The Wondrous Adventures of Misfortune
by Butterfly553
Summary: Midorima's life was full of good luck and good days. As a well-known surgeon, he's saved many people and helped quite a few lives. However, all that changes one day and Midorima's life comes crashing down. The only thing that could possibly have the power to save him would be his guardian angel. Too bad he doesn't have a guardian angel, but a guardian demon, named Takao.
1. Great Fortune

Midorima Shintarou has always known success in life. Throughout his basketball career in middle and high school, all the way through medical school, he's never failed even once. As a surgeon, he's well-known as one of the best and has never lost a patient. His fortune has always been great, ranking in the top 3 each day in the Oha Asa forecast (with few exceptions). Even so, his lucky item would never be far, raising his already impeccable fortune and luck even higher.

He mostly worked on scheduled surgeries in the hospital, but every few months he'd spend a week in the E.R. It was a favor for another E.R doctor, Kasamatsu Yukio. The two weren't friends, but they'd played against each other in high school basketball and the shorter male had earned the respect of the taller one. He was one of the very few people Midorima willingly spoke to outside of work.

Unfortunately for Midorima, this also meant he would get roped into going places with Kasamatsu and other colleagues from the E.R department.

"Midorima," The green-haired male turned and looked down to meet the eyes of the shorter male.

"What is it, Kasamatsu?" He was finishing up paperwork when the black-haired male approached him. He wasn't thrilled that he was being interrupted.

"Me and two of my friends are getting together tonight. We're going to go to a shrine before the E.R starts to get bad this season." He paused in his explanation to allow Midorima to process his words. A frown deepened on his face as he realized that he was about to be asked a question he didn't want to deal with. "Come with us, you will right? You said you would during your last E.R shift."

"I have no memory of agreeing to such a thing."

"It was during Wednesday night."

"You mean in the middle of my 27-hour shift? Was that before or after my only ½ hour break where I could only get 20 minutes of sleep?" Kasamatsu looked a little sheepish, but he still wasn't planning on backing down.

"Still, you agreed." Midorima sighed, but nodded his head and adjusted his glasses. He was caught since he would most definitely do something he'd said he would do. He might not have liked doing anything with people, but he wouldn't go back on his word.

"Very well, if I must go. However, do not attempt to get me to go out with you all again anytime soon."

"Great, come and find me after you get off your shift. You won't regret this!" Midorima wasn't excited about how his night was turning out and definitely didn't believe that last statement. However, he did find Kasamatsu once all his paperwork was completed. Kasamatsu and the other 2 doctors were already off work and waiting for Midorima to join them.

One doctor was a Pediatric doctor named Lila. The other was a neurological doctor named Leon. The two were married and loved to flaunt it. Much to Midorima's dismay, he was already were acquainted with them from back when the green-haired male first began to work at the E.R. He didn't particularly care for either of them and usually only was around them when he was talking with Kasamatsu.

Still, he was reminded once again that he had already agreed, so Midorima just climbed into his car as the others got into their own cars, with the married couple riding together. The couple was guiding the other two to the shrine. It was something that a patient had talked about. It wasn't too far from the hospital and wasn't too far from the actual roads they'd all take to go home. It was shocking that none of them had ever heard of the shrine before.

"So, this is a lesser known shrine. I'm not even sure whose it is." Leon began as they all exited their cars. It was a little walk to the shrine, so he talked along the way, despite no one wanting to hear his complaining. "From what I see already, this could be one of those fake god places. I mean, shit, it's really shabby."

He wasn't wrong though. The tiled path leading them from the parking lot to the actual shrine was in shambles. In the dim light, the group nearly tripped with every step. Once they got closer to the shrine, they saw it was mostly intact but the wood was rotting. A few posts laid on the ground knocked over from past storms.

"Leon, don't be rude. It may have flaws but all of the flowers around here are beautiful, so look at the good, not the bad." Lila nicely scolded her husband.

"Tch." Leon pushed over a post, causing a few decorations to fall over. It was simply out of spite at being annoyed with his wife's words.

"Come on, don't destroy it. We might not know who the shrine belongs to, but we need to still respect it." Kasamatsu finally spoke up, appalled by how his friend was acting. With the male calmed down, the four did what they'd gone there to do. They prayed for the safety of their patients and for a slow E.R season.

Midorima was very condescending with his prayer. Since he'd never lost a patient, he never needed to pray for one. Also, since he thought of himself as such a lucky guy with the best fortune, he didn't know what the praying could do for him.

"Oh hey, there's fortunes too! We should all get one!" Lila called out to the males, excited and eager. She'd finished up with her prayer first and looked around to see the little box holding papers.

"Why would I need one, I already know what it would say." Midorima confidentially declared as the other two agreed with the female's words.

"Come on Midorima, just get one," Kasamatsu spoke to his friend, getting his own fortune. The rest followed suit until all four had a piece of old, discolored paper. "Lila start first and read yours."

"Alright." The lone female opened her paper and read it to herself first, or tried to since the light around her was dim and only from the moon. "This looks like it's different than usual ones. It's like it's specifically for me and not a common one."

"What does it say?"

"It says: Your hopes will not come true. Failure is approaching. Prepare for devastation."

"What the hell is that? What kind of stupid fortune did you get?" Leon exclaimed, furious with his lover's fortune.

"Now, now Leon, you shouldn't be so rude. Just read yours." The female was upset though, but she wasn't going to disrespect the fortune.

"Mine says: Bright future ahead of you. Many lights shall guide you to your next amazing adventure."

"Wow, that's completely different than Lila's," Kasamatsu muttered before opening his paper and reading. "Luck considerably worse for future. Be wary of those larger than you. Chaos and violence will surround you."

"That sounds like a typical day in the E.R. What a bunch of shit." Leon was still fuming but they chose to ignore him this time.

"What about you Midorima?" Kasamatsu questioned, turning to his annoyed friend.

"Luck and fortune have always been on your side. Both shall reach an all-time high. Expect many rewards and be prepared, as a life-changing event is on its way."

"I should have expected you'd get a great one." Lila chuckled as she shook her head.

"Tch, such crap." Leon walked away, tearing his fortune as he went. The little pieces of paper scattered around as they floated to the ground.

"I'm sorry for him. He's been going through a lot recently with work..." His wife was trying to make excuses for him, however, she didn't wait for a response and just ran after her lover.

"He's unpleasant to be around," Midorima said to the black-haired male standing next to him.

"You're not too pleasant yourself." He chuckled at his friend, ignoring how irritated Midorima looked before and after his words.

"Can I leave now? This was a waste of my time. I cannot believe that this place could be a real shrine." Midorima didn't throw his fortune, but he did crumple it up. Once he left Kasamatsu, he tossed the ball of fortune somewhere in his car.

The green-haired male was very displeased that he'd been brought along with Kasamatsu and his "friends". While he agreed with Leon, he was disgusted with how disrespectful he'd acted at the shrine.

As he was deep in thought, he realized his car sounded strange. The male wasn't sure why his car would suddenly act up since he'd only gotten it a few weeks prior. However, much to Midorima's annoyance, his car sputtered, before slowing to a crawl and stopping completely.

"Ridiculous..." Midorima tried to start his car a few more times, but in the end, it refused to start again. Midorima pulled out his phone, but it was dead. He'd now have to walk home and leave his car until morning. It was already completely dark out, but thankfully his home wasn't too far away. He just hoped that his car would be safe and not get broken into since it was such a nice car.

So, sweaty, irritated and exhausted, the green-haired male entered his home after a walk that took the rest of his energy out of him. It was an apartment on the top floor of his building, which was the 7th floor. Of course, the elevator just had to be out of order that night.

By the time Midorima got to his door, he was ready to just fall into bed. However, he had to eat dinner, shower and then do a few other things before he was able to go to bed. He wasn't bothered by it since he was off work the following day.

Therefore, once he completed his tasks, he fell into his large and comfy bed. He could finally get a full night of sleep. He then proceeded to sleep fully through the night and the majority of the next day. He only woke up when his cell phone began to ring, which was around 2 pm.

Midorima sat up, irked with being woken up, and put his glasses on. Once he could see, he reached out and grabbed his phone. He saw it was Kasamatsu calling, so he answered it.

"What is it?" The green-haired male demanded. He sounded nearly as cranky as he usually did, but even more so.

"Hey! Sorry to call you on your day off, but I thought you'd want to know..." The black-haired male sounded like he was a little upset over something, but it wasn't as if he was crying or anything.

"What's going on?"

"Last night, on their way home, Leon and Lila got into an accident. Leon was killed, but Lila's alright. Well physically alright."

"How did it happen?" Midorima might not have been very thrilled with Leon, but hearing he died still gave him a sad feeling.

"Lila said Leon was still bad mouthing the shrine and his anger caused him to drive too fast. One of those modified trucks with all the lights came at them and Leon drove right at it. He was blinded by the lights and rammed them, head on. He was killed instantly."

"I see. How did Lila survive that?"

"No one knows, but apparently she was checked out and her only surprise was that she was pregnant. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her."

"I thought she couldn't have children?"

"Yeah, she couldn't, but she apparently can now."

"How strange..."

"Even stranger, we both saw Leon tear up his fortune, but with his body was the piece of paper. It was completely fine and had exactly the same words that he told us. I even saw it with my own eyes."

"That's impossible." Midorima didn't believe it at all, but Kasamatsu wasn't the type to lie, so he couldn't help but have to believe his friend's story.

"I knew you'd say that." Kasamatsu couldn't help but chuckle a little bit before speaking again. "Well, that's all I wanted to tell you, so I'll let you go back to what you were doing."

"I appreciate you informing me." With that, the two hung up, leaving Midorima in silence. He was already awake now, so he figured he'd just get out of bed. He needed to do some paperwork anyway. However, when he went out to the living room he remembered that his car was broken down, and he'd left his paperwork there.

Midorima got into one of his cars and drove over to where he left his broken down car, only to find it gone. Not having a phone, since it was charging at home, the green-haired male just went back and used a landline to call about his car.

Once his car problem was dealt with, he decided to spend the rest of the day home. He caught up on laundry and making food for his lunches. However, he ended up not cooking, since he remembered how he couldn't cook well. So he just made a mental note to pick up something on his way to work the following morning.

He'd forgotten by the next day, however, so he ended up in the cafeteria eating food there. He didn't like eating around other people since he'd usually get dragged into a conversation with someone or he'd have to deal with people staring at him for his odd lucky item of the day. Unfortunately, his concerns were correct, and he was approached by someone, but it was alright since it was Kasamatsu.

"Hey Midorima," Kasamatsu greeted his green-haired friend as he sat down at the table across from the male.

"Good morning," Midorima responded, irritated at his friend. He was busy doing paperwork since he had to redo all he'd lost when his car was stolen.

"You remember what my fortune said, right?"

"I do."

"Last night, a group of gang members came in the E.R and started trouble with some girls. I went over to help, but they were about to hit me when this huge guy protected me." Kasamatsu explained to the man. "So, my fortune was completely wrong. I didn't need to worry about any large guys. Just the opposite."

"Hmm..." Midorima paused in his writing to look up at his friend.

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking about how our fortunes were all opposite than what they said."

"Why? What's been going on with you?" Midorima then gave his explanation of bad luck. "Well, shit Midorima. It isn't like you to be so unfortunate."

"I am aware. I can only hope with my lucky item for today that my luck will be better."

However, Midorima's lucky item, which was green nail polish, couldn't help him, nor any of his patients. Each patient he touched ended up dying even if it was a very simple and basic procedure. It had never happened to him before. He'd remained calm throughout the entire day but wasn't inside. He wouldn't dare lose his cool though, but he was slowly becoming unsettled more and more. His luck had never been so bad before.

Unfortunately for him and his patients, his bad luck didn't stop there. The next few days were full of death at the hands of the once perfect surgeon. It all came to an end when Midorima was summoned by his boss.

"Sit down Midorima." The intimidating male demanded as soon as the green-haired male entered his office. Midorima sat down and looked at his boss.

He was never called to his office before, so he had a bad feeling. It didn't help that Midorima himself felt bad already. His luck was at an all-time low and so was his mood. He'd been more irritable and clumsy than usual, and everyone around him was suffering because of it.

"Do you know why I called you here today?"

"No sir, I am not aware of your reasons."

"I find that hard to believe." His boss now was showing his annoyance in his voice and on his face. "Midorima, all your patients from the last few days have died. I don't know if it's something wrong with you, or just unfortunate events, but frankly, I don't care."

"I'm-"

"This hospital has strict standards for their doctors and all the deaths you've caused has shown you cannot meet our values, nor our guidelines."

"Sir-"

"You are being fired. Pack any personal items and leave once this meeting is over. Do not finish your shift, I do not want anyone else to die by your hands. I've heard enough threats from people saying they want to sue this hospital because of you." Midorima wasn't happy at all, but there was now nothing he could do. So, he simply nodded his head and left the office.

Midorima had no personal items there, so he headed right to his car. Kasamatsu saw him and called out to him, but Midorima was too annoyed and worked up to listen.

"How could my luck be so terrible? What happened?" Midorima was shocked at how his life was suddenly falling apart. He wasn't sure where he should go now, or even what to do. So, all he could do was drive home.


	2. Guardian What!

The day Midorima got fired, his car broke down on his way home. It greatly bothered him that neither that car nor his original car would even make any attempts to start again, so now 2 of his 3 cars were permanently broken. He had tried to already get the first one fixed but found that nothing could be done for it, so he didn't even bother with the second one. He decided to just give up on both.

It was a few days after that now, and Midorima was in terrible condition. He hadn't left his apartment at all, nor had he actually been getting enough sleep or enough to eat. He didn't have much of an apatite so he only had a few snacks a day, and even with that, he was already running out of food since he never bothered to go to the grocery store that week. He felt like sleeping the entire day away, but no matter how much sleep he got it was always bad. He felt even more tired when he woke up than anything, so after the first 2 days, he decided to not bother sleeping unless he was truly tired.

On top of all his issues already, knew that he needed to be finding himself a job. That thought was making his situation worse since he knew what he needed to do, but he currently couldn't handle it at all. His family had already offered to assist him with money, but he wanted no part in that. He refused to live off all his family so that just left using his savings that he'd been growing for quite some time, but he truly didn't want to use up all that money either. It didn't help that his "friends" contiguously texted and called him, wondering if he was doing alright. With his friends and family pushing him, he was forced to ignore his negativity for now and make a decision.

So, with his mind made up, Midorima showered and changed before leaving the house. He was already dressed and ready when he realized that he'd nearly forgotten his wallet. He spent an hour searching for it, before realizing that it was gone. He wasn't sure if it was stolen or just fell out somewhere, but either way, it was now completely gone from the male who owned it.

"This is ridiculous." Midorima checked Oha-Asa to see if his ranking was bad, but was concerned to see he was ranked first. He sighed to himself and shook his head. "My lucky item will probably not even assist me at this point..." Midorima then used his last car to go to the store but first stopped at an office place to get copies printed off of his resume to go to a few interviews. On his way to the grocery store, his car decided to break down, like the others.

He was now even more disappointed and irritated but most of all he, himself, was breaking down. He didn't even want to walk home at this point, but his logic and calm side told him to anyway.

However, just like the rest of the things in his life, bad luck struck the folder of papers. A gust of wind blew and his papers were scattered all over the busy and wet road. He could only watch as his many copies of his resume were soaked and ran over.

"I can't just allow them to remain there." It was bothersome to the green-haired male but he knew he had to retrieve them. He waited until the road wasn't too busy to begin his task.

He picked up quite a few which were completely soaked but still salvageable. A few had blown further into the roads, so he looked around before going to get them.

He picked them up but they were more torn and tattered than the rest, due to being run over. His annoyance and lack of sleep won, and his attention to the traffic around him slipped. He failed to notice the large truck barreling towards him. The driver was eating, and not paying any mind to the road in front of him. The two only saw each other, when it was already too late.

The driver reacted and slammed on his breaks, but Midorima did nothing. The green-haired male had been at the end of his sanity and stopped caring about his existence. He made no attempt to move and gave in to his fate.

Moments before he was hit, there was a flash of black and something hard hit him. The next thing Midorima knew, he was sitting at the side of the road with someone's arms wrapped around him. Confused and slightly in pain, Midorima looked at the person to see who it was. The person was a male shorter than him with black hair and wearing all black clothing. To the green-haired male's horror and confusion, there were black bat-like wings attached to his back. As Midorima watched, they folded into each other and disappeared as if they were never there to begin with.

The other male sighed with relief before smiling, a big smile at Midorima. The green-haired male felt all sorts of emotions at that moment, despite not usually feeling anything. Most of all, he was curious about the man, even though there were other feelings he should have been feeling.

"I'm so glad I made it in time! I was worried for a second there!" The male said in an upbeat voice. "Hey there Shintarou! I'm Takao Kazunari!" His words stunned Midorima. The previously winged male was acting as if his appearance was the most normal thing in the world.

"Wh...What?" Midorima wasn't sure what just happened but he didn't like it. He was in the arms of a male who didn't look normal, and he was fairly certain that he wasn't even human.

"I'm Takao, that's my name." The male continued to smile at Midorima as he stared in confusion. Well, he stared until things around him began to go black as he fell into unconsciousness. The last thing he saw was the concerned amber eyes of the male holding him.

Midorima awoke in his bed with a shock. He sat up, put his glasses on before looking around. He was glad to see his room around him and that it was his bed he woke up in. He was wearing his sleep clothes, and nothing seemed out of place.

"That must have been a dream. An oddly vivid one." Midorima said to himself out of relief. He was worried he was losing his mind. He was also unhappy with how out of character he'd been acting in his dream. His stomach growling informed him that laying in bed was not something his body was wanting to do.

Once he put on his day clothes, he left his bedroom to go to the kitchen for some breakfast. He entered his kitchen to see the male from his dream standing there at his stove, cooking. He no longer wore black clothing, but normal jeans and a t-shirt. He looked like a normal person, but when the male turned around to smile at Midorima, the green-haired male remembered he was nor a normal person. The male's eyes were a slate blue, but Midorima could have sworn they were an amber color when he'd first seen him.

"Oh, you're awake! Sit at the table Shin, and I'll give you your food." Takao was oblivious to how horrified Midorima was at that moment, however, he was irritated by the abbreviated use of his name.

"What did you call me? Also, how did you get in here?"

"Huh? You mean you don't remember? We met yesterday when you almost were killed. You sure have bad luck, but that's why I'm here!" He chuckled as he began to serve out food onto two plates. "Here you go Shin, eat up!" He set the food on the dining table and sat down to eat. Midorima, however, did not move from the doorway. It wasn't shock or horror that he was feeling anymore, but complete annoyance.

"Don't speak to me in such an informal and friendly way."

"Hush, you seem like you haven't eaten a good meal in a long time. We'll talk after we eat."

Midorima didn't want to sit and eat with this stranger, but his body clearly did with the sounds his hungry stomach began to make. So reluctantly, the green-haired male sat down and began to eat. He was pleasantly surprised to taste the food. He'd thought it would taste bad but it actually tasted fairly decent, well better than he could get it to taste anyway.

It didn't take long for the food to be devoured with how hungry the green-haired man actually turned out to be. Midorima had indeed not eaten a good meal in a long time. It nearly made him forget about the inhuman stranger in his kitchen. Nearly, but not totally.

"Explain to me now. Who and what are you? Why are you here?"

"Well like I said before, my name is Takao Kazunari."

"Yes, I remember."

"Good, good. Well moving on then. I'm a demon. Specifically, your new guardian demon."

"I thought people had guardian angels?"

"Really? That's the first thing you ask me? Shouldn't it be something about how I'm a demon? You're only bothered by the guardian demon part?" The black-haired chuckled but got no response, so he continued with speaking. "Most people do, but there are some who need demons and you, Shin, need me." The male nearly seemed cocky about it, which hit a nerve for Midorima.

"Explain." Midorima was seemingly radiating irritation and hostility towards the male. It was surprising, but it actually made Takao a little nervous.

"Well, the shrine you four went to was of an original goddess. She ruled over fortune long ago but was shoved aside by others. Over the years, she's been treated badly by humans, so anger and hate grew. You four caused it to boil over." Takao informed the annoyed male. "She's been corrupted, causing her fortunes to inflict the opposite of what they say. So, when you got the best fortune possible, you were actually cursed with terrible luck. That caused your original guardian to run away."

"Why would a guardian angel run away from bad luck?"

"She's a coward and didn't want your misfortune to spread to her. She chose her life over yours." Takao honestly seemed very annoyed over it. "So, since she broke a law, she was exiled and to combat your bad luck, I was brought in."

"You're a demon, how can you be a guardian and how can you fight bad luck. Aren't you just bad luck?"

"Now, now Shin, all demons aren't that bad. There's quite a few that look after humans. I was just most suited for you."

"How unfortunate..."

"Ha! Well, that bad fortune is why I'm here. You're stuck with me now. I won't run away from it."

"You sure?" Midorima was skeptical considering he was talking to a demon he'd just met.

"Of course! Shin is mine... to protect so I won't leave your side!"

"How can I get my fortune back?" The green-haired male wanted to just ignore the unnecessary comments from the black-haired male and wanted to find out how to get rid of him, as soon as possible.

"... I have no clue!" The huge smile on Takao's face made Midorima want to slam his own head against the table. He wasn't sure how much of the demon he could handle.

"So are you immune to the misfortune? Is that why you're so willing to stay?" In response, Takao just shrugged. He wasn't 100% sure about it, so it was something he'd find out later.

"If I get your bad luck, I'll still remain by your side. I won't leave you alone, not even for a minute."

"You don't seriously believe you'll be staying in my home, do you?"

"Of course I am! My old band members live around here, so I can protect you and get them all back together at the same time! I'll be sharing a bed with you too!"

"No."

"I'll be happily sleeping on the couch?"

"If you must, however, stay out of my way. I don't want to see you." Midorima got up from the kitchen table and began to leave the room.

"Sorry Shin, but now that I've shown myself, you and everyone else can see me now. There's no stopping that for a while, if ever." Hearing that annoyed Midorima, however, he still left the room. He wanted to do anything but talk to Takao a moment longer.

Midorima wasn't prepared for the insane world of demons and angels he was now in. He didn't usually believe in such extremes such as curses, but now that he was stuck with a being like Takao, he didn't want to, but he reluctantly believed. All the changes and insanity gave him a headache, on top of the one he'd already been having since his bad luck began.

To calm his headaches, Midorima decided to just go back to his bed. He didn't really have too much motivation to do much else with the pain in his head. How he had already been feeling before the appearance of Takao made it all so much worse.

So, needless to say, Midorima's spirits were down. It was something he was planning to fix with excessive sleep. Well, that was his plan, but not Takao's. After an hour of sleeping, Takao burst into the room, shocking the sleeping man awake.

"Shin! You can't just sleep!" Takao climbed onto the bed with the now waking and angry male. "Come on, we've got plans!"

"What plans? Go away." Midorima glared at the black-haired male. Only his head was showing out from under the blankets. His green hair was messed up, and his eyes were only half open but still had anger within them along with looking tired.

"Oh wow Shin, you look super hot right now!" Takao leaned in closer to the sleepy male to get a better look at Midorima.

"What?" The male responded by shoving Takao off the bed. His body made a loud thump as he hit the floor hard.

"Ouch! That wasn't nice Shin!"

"Be silent and get out of my room."

"Are you going to come with me?"

"If I have to. Just get out."

"Good!" Takao cheered to himself as he left the room and went to sit on a couch in the living room. It was only a few minutes before Midorima exited his room and approached Takao. "That took forever!"

"Where are you taking me?"

"Where are your keys? I'm driving."

"No."

"Come on, you don't know where you're going, so it'll be easier for me to drive."

"Can you even drive?" Midorima spoke as he handed the black-haired male the keys to his last car. Takao took the keys and chuckled, his eyes suddenly amber and gleaming with mischief.

"It can't be that hard."


	3. Answers or More Questions?

"See, I told you it wouldn't be that hard!" Takao smirked at Midorima as he slowly pulled the car into the driveway in front of them.

"You nearly killed 3 people and almost crashed into another car." Midorima was glaring at Takao and was secretly glad the terrible ride was over. He had been horrified the entire time. He was convinced he was going to die because of his guardian. However, Takao had been smiling and completely oblivious to the horror he was causing.

"They shouldn't have been in the way then." The black-haired male shrugged as he put the car in park.

"You... That's not... I will be driving home. You will not ever drive a car again."

"Awe! Come on Shin, don't be so mean. It was fun!"

"Be silent." Both males then got out of the car, one of them pouting, and began to walk to the large home in front of them. It looked quite expensive, like someone famous or very important lived there. It truly looked more like a mansion than a house. "Whose home is this?"

"You'll see," Takao smirked once more and began to pull Midorima along with him. The green-haired male was unsure about the situation but allowed himself to be guided by the male.

"This better not get me killed."

"You worry too much."

"You don't worry enough." Ignoring Midorima, Takao knocked on the door. A few moments went by before footsteps could be heard approaching the door. The large wooden door in front of them then opened, revealing a familiar face to Midorima.

"Midorima?"

"Kasamatsu?" The two former co-workers stared at each other in disbelief. The shorter one hadn't seen or heard from the other since Midorima was fired and stopped answering his phone.

"Hey there Kazu!" A yellow-haired male quickly jogged to the door. He had a huge smile on his face.

"Ryouta! It's been so long!" The black-haired male hugged the blond, ignoring the two confused men.

"Kise, what is going on?" Kasamatsu demanded, confused about the situation.

"Well, I told you that old friends were coming for a special event."

"I thought you meant that the others I've already met were coming over."

"Takao! What is going on?" Midorima pulled his black-haired companion to him to explain the situation. He was more irritated than confused.

"Why don't you two come in, then we'll explain." The yellow-haired male motioned for the others to follow him and then walked away. Midorima and Takao were led to a large living room with an equally large, pure white sectional sofa. "Do either of you want anything to drink? The others will be here soon."

"Water please." Takao responded, just as Midorima said, "No."

"So, water for both." With that, Kise left the room and headed to the kitchen, Takao decided to follow him to begin the catching up with his old friend.

"Others?"

"Kise invited a few of our other friends as well. They'll be important people you're going to meet." Kasamatsu calmly explained. With how calm the male was now, he was clearly used to Kise causing sudden surprises.

"What exactly is going on?"

"Kise Ryouta, that loud blond, is my guardian angel. He doesn't really seem like an angel, but he is." Kasamatsu explained simply. He then looked towards the kitchen where both the guardians were and began to speak again. "That guy is your guardian, so I hear."

"Guardian demon to be exact."

"I see. Well, you'll be meeting others as well. Oh, I also heard you know about the band Takao is in. Kise is a part of it as well."

"I think I expected you to say that. He seems like the type who enjoys being in the spotlight." Kasamatsu chuckled at Midorima's comment. However, once the green-haired male opened his mouth to speak, the humor faded. "What is your relationship with Kise?"

"Uh..."

"Shin here!" Takao and Kise's sudden reappearance halted any responses. Takao handed the cup of water to his green-haired companion and then sat next to him.

"What were you two talking about?" The yellow-haired male inquired curiously.

"I told him about you and how you're in the band with Kazu."

"Did you tell him we're lovers?"

"No!" Kasamatsu couldn't help it as his face began to turn red from embarrassment.

"He had not gotten to that quite yet," Midorima responded as he took a drink of the water he was given.

"Oh, you're not bothered by that, right?" Kise wasn't too concerned, but he wasn't going to be happy if his best friend (Takao) was protecting someone close-minded.

"Why would I be bothered by that? Whatever you do in private is none of my concern. I'll only be annoyed if you become too sappy in front of me. However, that stands for any couple." He looked annoyed already as he responded, but it was a good enough answer. "Besides, I already knew Kasamatsu was gay."

"Wait what?!" The shorter black-haired male chocked on his water, causing the blond to worry and move closer to him.

"I caught you making out with someone 3 years ago after that birthday party you forced me to attend."

"Kise! You told me you were sure no one saw us!"

"Oops?" Kise received a smack for his comment. The two lovers began to bicker as Takao chuckled.

"They are so in love, aren't they Shin?" Takao leaned against Midorima much to his annoyance.

"That is love? Seems quite dysfunctional." This caused the black-haired demon to burst out into laughter.

"And what are you laughing about?" Kasamatsu's anger was put towards Takao, causing him to go silent instantly. Just then a knock at the door rang out in the large home.

"That must be the others!" Kise quickly fled to the door, which was out of sight. A minute of incoherent chatter later and the male reappeared with a group following behind him.

"That's a lot of people," Midorima muttered to himself. Takao made a squealing noise before pouncing on the group. A lot of cheerful greetings were heard before Takao finally turned back to the green-haired male.

"So, everyone this is my human, Midorima Shintarou." The demon spoke loudly for all of them to heard. "Shin this is..." He took a step away to allow the group to begin introducing themselves.

"I'm Momoi Satsuki." The only female of the group announced. Her voice and personality were as bright as her pink hair. "I'm a guardian angel and a member of the band Ki and Kazu are in. It's been a few months since we've last all met up though."

"I'm Aomine Daiki, a guardian demon." The blue-haired male said next from the pink-haired female's side. "This is Kagami Taiga, my guardian angel lover." He was referring to the redhead who was just as tall as he was that was standing next to him.

"I'm Dai's guardian and he's in the band too!" The female noted happily.

"A demon gets a guardian?" Midorima was confused but the next person began to speak. He was a huge male with purple hair.

"My name is Murasakibara Atsushi. I'm a human and work as a pastry maker."

"I'm his guardian angel, Himuro Tatsuya. I'm the final member of the band." The black-haired male next to the purple giant spoke up. He had only one eye visible with a mole under it.

"Hello Shintarou, it's been a while." A shorter red-haired male began to talk next. His voice caused chills to run down Midorima's spine. The being was someone he'd met only once, but left an impression on him, and not a good one. "You remember me, correct? I'm Akashi Seijurou. I'm a demon and I guard no one."

"Of course you don't..." Midorima scowled at the red-haired male. "Is that the last one?"

"I haven't gone yet." The sudden voice caused the green-haired male to jolt slightly. He looked towards an even shorter male with light blue hair. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. I'm a human and work as a preschool teacher."

"So, now that the introductions are done, everyone find a seat." Kise declared before returning to his place next to Kasamatsu. Takao also returned to his place, which was right next to his human and in the green-haired male's opinion, uncomfortably close for Midorima's tastes. Even so, Midorima made no move to shove the demon away from him.

"So, how long have you known about the demon and angel stuff?" Momoi excitedly asked the green-haired male.

"Today only a few hours ago."

"Oh wow. Kazu didn't you think you should have waited to introduce all of us to him? What if he gets overwhelmed?" Kise muttered horrified by his best friend's actions.

"No way! Shin is no delicate flower. He can handle all the sudden changes, can't you?" Takao turned to the human next to him. Midorima only glared at him in return.

"He looks more pissed off than anything," Aomine noted from his place between Kagami and the only female.

"That's his usual face. Then again, I'm not sure if he can feel anything other than anger." Kasamatsu commented simply.

"I am capable of feeling every emotion anyone else can feel. I just choose not to." Midorima's statement caused quite a few people to chuckle. He wasn't sure if he was alright with it or not, but he decided to let it go.

"So, what else did Kazu tell you? Anything about your original guardian?" It was the female once again asking the question. Midorima took a moment to think about his conversations with his demon before answering. He'd been so overwhelmed at that time so he never got a good chance to go over all Takao had told him.

"He informed me that my original guardian was a coward who was more interested in herself than protecting me. Along with something about breaking a law." The green-haired male recalled. It had only been a few hours ago, but it felt like days since then.

"I see. Kazu, why didn't you tell him the whole story?" At the female's question, Takao looked down at his feet. "You must have been embarrassed."

"Yeah, since you seriously had to fight her to become his guardian," Aomine spoke next, chuckling as he did so.

"What do you mean?" Midorima was now confused once again.

"Who wants to explain? It's too much work for me." The blue-haired male was scolded for being so lazy by the red-haired male next to him.

"I can explain unless Kazu wants to?" Momoi was clearly eager to keep talking and Takao had no interest in speaking at that moment, due to his embarrassment.

"Satsuki, just tell the man the story."

"I was about to Dai, so shut it!" She glared at her companion before looking to Midorima. "Your previous guardian was an angel named Hiretsuna. As beautiful and kind as she acted, anyone who knew her was well aware how bad she was. She had someone else to guard before you were born, and she neglected them so much they ended up dying far too early then they were supposed to."

"She also tricked other angels, causing them to get into trouble. Some even were exiled due to her actions." Himuro explained as he shook his head in disbelief.

"When she became your guardian, she decided to toy with your life any chance she got. She'd cause certain things to happen or stop others. She saw you as a game."

"It was only after she caused you to meet a demon like me, that Kazunari decided to get involved." It was now Akashi speaking, however, it was less unsettling now.

"Yeah, as Aomine said before, Kazu had to fight her. She was trying to mess with your life in terrible ways. She even allowed you to go to that shrine when she knew it was cursed. The only reason Kazu didn't stop it was she locked him up." Kise exclaimed, infuriated at the memory.

"He was watching over you in secret for many years without permission so once she found out, she lashed out at him." The female, who was annoyed with the others for telling parts of the story, regained control and was speaking again. "Kazu was locked in a demon sealing cage. He was finally able to be set free by his own power alone. When he saw you were about to die he was able to break out."

"When she says many years of watching you, she means it!" Aomine laughed out, only to be hit with a pillow thrown by Takao.

"Stop that! The story is over, Shin has heard enough!" He was trying to hide it, but he was clearly extremely embarrassed.

"Just how long?" Midorima was honestly curious now. He only got Takao panicky telling the others to remain silent. He'd gotten so worked up that he ended up out of his seat.

"We met when you were in the middle school, so since then." Saying that was the only one who wouldn't be silenced by anyone, Akashi.

"That's a very long time..."

"Shin, don't listen to him! He's-" Takao was stopped by Akashi slowly looking over at him. The black-haired demon sighed before sitting back down in his seat. "He's right. It has been that long."

"Interesting..." The green-haired male's comment concerned Takao, but he quickly forgot. Once the serious conversation was over, the whole group began chatting. They told stories about the old days but focused their stories about Takao and his life. The band members spent time discussing reuniting the band and starting it up again.

As it began to get later in the night, the group exchanged numbers and Midorima willingly participated. He hadn't been too sure of the whole thing at first, but he wasn't completely against the group. He wouldn't say be made friends, just close acquaintances. Either way, Takao was overjoyed with how well his human got along with his friends. With how Midorima can be, he wasn't sure how cooperative the male could be.

"It was great seeing you all again! We need to meet up more!" Takao called back to everyone as he and Midorima were leaving Kasamatsu and Kise's home.

"It was nice to meet you Mido!" Momoi called out causing the male to scowl at the nickname. He ignored the others and headed right to the driver's side. Takao lingered behind, but eventually caught up and entered the passenger side door.

"This turned out to be a great day, huh Shin."

"I suppose it could have been gone worse." The response caused Takao to light up. It was probably the best response he'd ever get, so he was thrilled. The way back to Midorima's home was peacefully quiet. Takao knew he'd put Midorima through so much that day, so he wanted to be kind and stay silent for a little bit. The green-haired male said nothing but was grateful for the male's silence. Even though he spoke no words, Takao knew his feelings and couldn't help smiling to himself.


	4. Getting The Truth?

This time, Midorima and Takao made it to their destination safely. As it was in the beginning, Takao had remained silent throughout the car ride. Midorima was shocked since in the extremely short time he knew the demon, he was sure Takao wasn't fond or even capable of remaining silent.

"Do you truly intend on living with me uninvited?" It was Midorima who suddenly broke the silence once they were within his apartment.

"Yeah, of course. I can't protect you if I'm not near you."

"Do most guardians live with who they are protecting?"

"Ah, well no. Not really."

"So why do you intend to? Also, why do the others I've just met?" It was surprising to Takao that the green-haired male had so many questions.

"Well, they live together because an event forced the guardians to meet face-to-face with their humans. After we've been seen we cannot be unseen. I guess after that they got along well enough and lived together. Even began a romantic relationship."

"Are all of them dating each other? Shouldn't there be a rule against a demon or angel dating a human?" This question made Takao pause to think before bursting out into laughter. He laughed so hard he nearly fell off the sofa both males now sat on.

"You know Shin, we have so many rules against many things, but having a relationship with a human isn't one of them."

"How strange." Midorima then paused before speaking again. "Not that I care, but whom exactly are dating?" Takao knew he was vaguely curious about the new friends he had, even if he wouldn't say so.

"Well, Yukio and Ryouta are together and Daiki and Taiga as well, but you were already told that. Tatsuya and Atsushi are a couple. Satsuki wants to be with Tetsuya, but he might have something with Seijurou. Those three have some issues."

"What about you?"

"Huh? Me? Oh, well..." Takao couldn't hide his shock at being asked such a question about himself. "I've dated a bit, but nothing serious. I currently have my eyes set on someone right now. I've liked them for a while."

"I pity that person."

"So mean Shin!" Takao pouted but continued speaking. "So, any more questions for me?"

"Why exactly have you been watching over me before you became my guardian?"

"Well, after you met Seijurou I had to step in and assist you. His appearance caused damage I needed to fix. I was one of your teammate's guardian, so I had a lot of access to you. I then messed up one day and we met." Takao was explaining slowly as if trying to ensure he was saying the correct things. "After we met, we became close and were almost friends, but still were just acquaintances. I was fascinated by you. You were tolerant of me at best, but still, we were close..."

"Why can't I remember any of that?"

"Hiretsuna found out and forced me away from you. She wiped your memories of me and that was that. She was able to keep me away, but as she got worse towards you, I fought her harder. That caused her to lock me away somehow. I was able to watch you, but I could do nothing to help you."

"I see..." Midorima thought to himself and realized that now that it was mentioned, he had a vague memory of the demon before he knew of him as a demon.

"I'm sorry Shin. If I hadn't been trapped then all your patients would have lived and you'd never have been fired. It's all my fault."

"No. It is that woman who is at fault. She caused it, not you. Besides, now you are able to prevent such events." Midorima was surprised by his own words. He instantly wanted to take them back. He was too nice.

"Aw, Shin are you trying to comfort me? Takao got close to Midorima and smiled at him. The human glared and shoved him away using a hand on his face. "Ack!" The demon fell to the ground with a thud.

"I'm going to bed now. Sleep on the couch. Do not enter my room." With that, Midorima headed towards his room.

"Sleep tight Shin! If you need any help falling asleep your friendly guardian is here to help!"

"Go die!" A slam of the door concluded their interaction and the night came to an end.

Midorima slept the whole night without waking up once. It was the best night of sleep he'd gotten in a long time. When he woke up, he felt fully rested and actually looked forward to the day.

That was until he put his glasses on and looked over. Next to him, in his bed and all snuggled in his blankets, was Takao. The human wasn't sure how long he'd been there, but it instantly ruined his good mood. At least, that's what his logical side told him.

"Takao!" He shoved the sleeping demon from the bed, causing not only him but the blankets he was wrapped in to hit the ground.

"Ah!" Takao shot up from the shock of the rude awakening. "What's wrong, Shin? Do you need someone to comfort you?"

"You were in my bed, that's what's wrong."

"Huh? You seemed lonely so I decided to help you feel better."

"I was sleeping, how did I seem lonely?"

"I heard your soul cry out for me Shin."

"Nonsense." Midorima was done listening to the demon speak. He got out of bed and entered his bathroom, ensuring it was locked behind him. He needed no bathroom buddies.

When he exited the bathroom, Takao was no longer there. He was thankful until the door flew open as he was changing.

"It's terrible! There's no food in your kitchen!" Takao then froze as he stared at the shirtless Midorima. "Oh..."

"Do you have no concept of privacy or boundaries?" He was annoyed but not nearly as much as he thought he'd be.

"Nope! Demons don't really understand either of those." The huge smile on his face showed no remorse.

"Of course not." Midorima turned to the demon only to realize he was still staring at him. "Is there something you want? Why are you watching me?"

"Huh? Oh, yes – I mean no." Takao shook his head and turned away from him. "I was going to cook you breakfast, but you're all out of food."

"Of course I am. You used it all up yesterday."

"Oh, oops." He chuckled in response, a sheepish chuckle which caused Midorima to glare at him.

"It seems like we'll need to go to the store."

"We could just order food."

"I refuse to eat that vile food."

"You need to broaden your horizons, Shin."

"I am perfectly fine the way I am." He instantly snapped, irritated. "Now, get ready, we need to go before too many people have the same idea. I detest being surrounded by a bunch of idiots."

"I'll drive!" Two seconds later, Takao yelped in pain as Midorima smacked him.

"Don't be more of an idiot than you already are. I don't believe your job is to kill me, and that's exactly what would happen if you drove."

"Fine," The demon pouted but was ignored by the human. The two quickly prepared for the day and headed out. Midorima, of course, drove his car.

The two went through the grocery store. It seemed like every so often a female would approach Takao and ask him for a picture with him or an autograph. It infuriated Midorima. Eventually, the human's angry aura towards the women caused many to back off, but a few were brave enough to approach them.

"Can you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"Causing those bothersome women to come over."

"Ah, sorry. I can't help it. They must be fans of the band."

"They are obnoxious."

"Oh, that reminds me, have you heard what our band name is?"

"I don't care."

"You're so mean, Shin!" Ignoring the male, Midorima walked away with the shopping cart. Realizing he was being left behind, Takao hurried to catch up. "Don't leave me behind!"

The two went over all they'd gotten to ensure they had all their supplies before checking out. That was when Midorima realized he didn't have enough money.

"Damn..." The prideful man was upset with himself. He hadn't wanted his financial situation to get to this point. He knew he needed to tell Takao, but he truly didn't want to admit it. Takao noticed the change in his human's attitude, much to Midorima's dismay.

"Shin, is there a problem?" He sounded concerned, which irritated the human.

"No!" He responded a bit too fast causing it to be clear there was an issue now. He sighed before starting his response over. "My money has run out."

"Well, why didn't you just say so? I have plenty of money and have no use for it. So, I'll pay for this."

"I refuse."

"Too bad. I used the last of your stuff, so I'll buy you more." With that, Takao quickly paid for the groceries while Midorima stood by his side and scowled. His angry demeanor caused the cashier to be a bit nervous towards the pair. "Shin, you're scary! You frightened the pretty lady!"

"Silence." The two hastily loaded the car with their supplies. On the way home, Takao chattered away about all the recipes and dishes he was going to make now. Midorima wanted to be annoyed, but he was glad he would be getting good food now. He was a terrible cook, so Takao's cooking was welcome, even if the demon himself wasn't.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"Make whatever you want."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Huh? So I can make it for you of course." Takao smiled at the male. His response caused an odd feeling for the green-haired male. "After all, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!" He laughed as he spoke, causing a frown to appear on Midorima's face.

"Please don't."

"You're no fun, Shin."

"I try not to be." That was when Midorima stopped listening to the demon. He was aware he was still talking to him, but the human gave him no responses. Once they were home, they put away the food and Midorima left Takao to do whatever he wanted to do.

Midorima was frustrated with himself. He'd felt something different from Takao, well more like he felt something different because of the demon. It wasn't the first time Takao had caused an odd feeling within him and he didn't like it. How the demon acted towards him and seemingly felt caused Midorima to wonder whether there was more to the story of their past or not. He suspected they were closer than just acquaintances,

and it honestly bothered him that Takao wasn't completely honest.

"Shin, whatcha thinking about?" The demon's sudden voice caused Midorima to jump. "You okay?" The look of true concern was written on the demon's face.

"I am fine."

"Sure... Well, the food's done!" Midorima nodded his head and followed the demon. When he entered the room the two sat down and ate. "You sure you don't want to talk about what's wrong?"

"I told you I was fine."

"Oh? I heard 'Kazu, I'm so upset!'" The imitation of himself caused Midorima to nearly choke on his food.

"Shut up."

"Yes, sir!" The human sighed internally and continued eating. He wanted to know the whole truth but wasn't sure if Takao would even tell him it all anyway. Midorima was getting caught up in his emotions, which he never did, and was forgetting the main issues at hand. He, however, couldn't help it. There was a demon across from him, in his home, and now he wasn't sure if he could trust him or not. Well, he didn't in the first place, or that's what his constant state of denial was telling him.


	5. Heartbreaking Honesty

"Shin! Where do you keep your underwear? All mine are dirty and I need to borrow a pair!" Takao called out as he walked out of the bathroom after taking a shower. The water still clung to his body with droplets rolling down his chest. It was clear to see for the green-haired male since all the demon was wearing was a towel around his waist.

"Excuse me?" Midorima had been reading a medical journal before being interrupted, and the sudden question caused him to set it down on his lap. He also looked up at Takao and was honestly surprised and appalled by the question. However, he knew he shouldn't have been shocked since in the full 2 weeks he'd known the demon, he was sure that he was no longer able to become shocked by him. However, just when Midorima thinks he is able to predict Takao's words and actions, he does something unexpected. So, unfortunately for Midorima, the demon is able to continue surprising him and mostly it's not a good surprise.

"Can I bor-"

"No, I heard you. I was momentarily shocked at how much of an idiot you can be."

"You're so mean Shin!" Even so, it didn't stop Takao's mission. He made his way to Midorima's bedroom and entered it. For the most part, it was also Takao's room considering he as well was sleeping in there. No matter what Midorima did, Takao still showed up in bed with him at night.

Much to the green-haired male's horror, he wasn't as bothered as he should be about the actions of the demon. He quickly grew comfortable and even accepted Takao sleeping next to him. It honestly concerned him, since his mistrust of the demon still hadn't gone away. Still, he made no mention of it to Takao. He refused to tell him any of his feelings towards the demon, the good nor the bad.

"Takao! What are you..." His question died away as he turned to fully look at his room. The demon was standing in the doorway now, only wearing a pair of Midorima's underwear. Seeing the green-haired male looking at him, Takao posed.

"How do I look Shin?"

"Put clothes on. You look ridiculous." Midorima spoke harsher than normal, but it was to hide the odd feeling he now felt.

"Fine!" Takao then disappeared before returning fully clothed. "Huh? You okay?"

"Go die." Midorima began reading again. He felt his body grow hotter as he thought about how Takao looked wearing only his underwear. He didn't like the thoughts he was having, nor the reaction his body had along with them. He especially didn't care for the fact that Takao instantly noticed his change.

"...in... Shin? Hey, are you hearing me?"

"What is it?" Midorima looked up at Takao, who was now inches from his face.

"You remember a few days ago how I told you about the job offer at Daiki's bar?" Midorima nodded his head and motioned for Takao to back off a bit. The demon took a step back and continued talking. "Well I'm going to go to work there and I start today. The other band members also work there, so I'm really excited!"

"I see."

"I'm taking your car. Don't miss me too much." Takao then paused as he was closing the front door behind him. He turned to look at the human once more. His smile was gone and in replace of it was a serious look. "Also, it's dangerous here without me. Don't leave or let anyone in. I mean it, Shin."

"Just go, you're bothering me and my reading."

"See you later!" With that, Takao was gone, leaving Midorima in silence. The green-haired male just sighed in relief. He hadn't had time alone since the demon showed up. No matter where he went, Takao would follow.

Two hours went by and his relief turned to annoyance. In the two weeks he'd known Takao, he grew used to having him around. So with the demon gone, Midorima felt a sense of loneliness.

"How idiotic..." Midorima scolded himself as he thought of his feelings. He closed what he was reading and got up from the couch. He decided a cool drink of red bean soup would clear his head. He needed to push aside these new feelings that he didn't want.

However, Midorima never made it out of the living room. Knocks on the door caused Midorima to stop walking and to also stop dwelling over his feelings for Takao.

"Who could that be?" Annoyed and now cringing internally at his cliche question, Midorima made his way to the door and opened it.

There stood a beautiful woman. She was only about 5'5" and had golden long wavy hair. She wore a white and pink sundress with lilies on it. She was smiling kindly at Midorima, but her smile did not reach her green eyes. Her eyes were saying nothing good, only darkness. Along with her conflicting looks, the aura she radiated caused Midorima to instantly become on edge.

"Hello, Shintarou." The woman's voice was light and clear. It almost sounded like an angel speaking. "It's been a long time, then again, you've never actually seen me before." She chuckled cutely and the sound caused the green-haired male to cringe internally again.

"Who are you?" Midorima's voice was calm but also demanding.

"You shouldn't be so rude. I used to protect you. Though, I guess you've heard a bunch of lies about me."

"Hiretsuna, my previous guardian?"

"Correct! I always knew you were a smart one!" Hiretsuna then pushed past the human and entered his apartment. She made her way to the couches and sat down. "Can I have some water? I have a lot to tell you, so I'll be needing refreshments."

"I never said you could enter my home." Midorima knew she wasn't going to leave, so he just sighed and shut his door. When he sat down, he sat on a different couch than the angel. He didn't feel too safe around her. For a few moments, the green-haired male watched her just look around the room before her eyes settled back on his. Her smile was now gone and her facial features mirrored the emotion shown in her eyes, hate, and disgust.

"You don't seem to live alone. Is that vile creature living with you? I heard he did some favors to end up as your guardian." Midorima wasn't sure what exactly she meant, but he knew he didn't like it.

"He is doing a better job than you ever did."

"Oh? Defending your repulsive pet? How cute. The others told you about how I was towards you, didn't they? Or at least, they told you Takao's false version. That demon sure gets around if he's gotten all of them to believe such lies."

"Just what are you trying to say?" The woman was beginning to offend Midorima and infuriate him. She, however, paid no mind to his feelings and just laughed.

"He is telling everyone all sorts of lies. He is easily believable, but remember Shintarou, Takao Kazunari is a demon. Demons are known for their lies and manipulation.

"Are you saying I shouldn't trust Takao?"

"I already know you don't. I am still connected to you. I know you don't believe all he has told you." The angel smirked as she leaned towards Midorima. "How about I tell you the truth? I am an angel, so you can trust me."

"If you want to, go ahead. It doesn't mean I'll believe you or trust your words any more than I trust him." She just smiled at him and nodded her head.

"Well, to start, Takao and you were a lot closer than friends. He had and still has romantic feelings for you. You reciprocated those feelings, but you were unaware he was a demon. That was not acceptable, so I got Akashi involved."

"They said Akashi got involved before I met Takao."

"Just forget what they said for now." Hiretsuna sighed and continued her story. "Anyway, after I needed to keep him away from you, for your own good, Takao made up lies to get me into trouble. I was forced away from you and could no longer protect you." She sniffled as if she was going to cry.

"I don't believe you."

"How cruel! I'm an angel, I would never dare tell you a lie." Her voice was condescending and it caused Midorima to become even more annoyed.

"Tell me what you claim is the truth."

"Fine. Takao is in love with you. He had followed you for a long time but you can't trust him. He gave up on his original human and quit as a guardian just to get to you." The angel looked into Midorima's eyes as she spoke. "He knows how to break your curse. He just doesn't want to, because then an angel would take over. He is dragging this out because he wants to be by your side."

"What?"

"Takao is a demon. He will lie to you and do anything to remain with you. You've noticed him getting too close to you, right?"

"I-"

"He's done or said things that have brought you two close. He tries his best to be next to you and makes you feel things you don't usually feel."

"Enough!" Midorima didn't want to hear anything more from her. His head began to spin as she chuckled at him.

"He's already gotten to you. You are attracted to him once again." Hiretsuna stood up and began to walk towards the front door. "Be careful. You cant trust what you feel for him. It may just be made up feelings by him."

"Get out."

"Good luck Shintarou. By the way, even if we show ourselves to our human, we can still hide if we want to. Like this." With that, she smiled and waved at him. She disappeared out of sight the next moment, without opening the door. It was as if she faded from existence.

Midorima stood there, staring at his closed door. He wasn't sure what to do or think. All he thought he felt could be lies, and he was beginning to get overwhelmed. He ended up sitting back down on the couch in silence. He went over what he was told and unfortunately, nothing had gotten resolved. His mind was flying through the information and it was not only making his head spin more, but it caused a headache. He was only sure of one thing, he needed to talk to Takao. He needed the honest answers from him, once and for all.

"How can I be sure he will tell me the truth this time?" Midorima was mumbling to himself as he looked down at his feet. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but it felt like forever.

"Whatcha mumbling about Shin? Were you missing me?" Takao had just

entered the apartment without the green-haired male noticing. Before Midorima could even react, Takao's smile fell. He instantly looked on edge and his slate blue eyes turned amber. The once kind looking Takao was now radiating anger. His anger was creating a black aura around him as he glared at where the angel once sat on the couch.

"Takao...?" Midorima wasn't sure what to do as he looked at the demon. He felt nervous and startled by his guardian, which was shocking since he hadn't felt any fear towards him at all during their time together.

"Why was she in here?! What did she do?!" Takao's tone was demanding and furious.

"She came to tell me her "truth"."

"The truth? Just what did she say to you?"

"She said a lot, but the more important parts were that we were once "in love" and that you knew all along how to break my curse."

"What?"

"Tell me Takao. Do you know? Can you break my curse?" Midorima was angry and stood up to face Takao. "Were we once "in love" and are you lying to me to keep yourself by my side?"

"Shin, we were in love, or at least I was and still am. You have been my most precious personal ever since I met you."

"Is everything she told me true?"

"No! I don't know how to break your curse! I have some ideas but I..." Takao's demonic presence faded as his anger turned to panic. "Shin, I don't want to lose you again. I'm sorry I never told you the whole truth. I thought you would be disgusted with me for how I feel."

"I don't know if I can trust what you say right now. I can't just forgive you at the moment. I wouldn't know whether or not my feelings from the past and present are true, or if they were fabricated by you. I need some time. I need to know if what I feel are my own feelings or if they are influenced by your selfish needs." Takao wanted to keep telling him that they are his own feelings and that he'd never do anything like that to the human he adored, but even he could tell that Midorima didn't want to hear it. He knew that nothing he said at the moment would fix the situation, so he could only agree.

"I understand... I'm sorry." Midorima looked at Takao and saw the deep feelings in his eyes. In the green-haired male's eyes was a swirling mix of confusion and showed that he was feeling a terrible feeling. Midorima wasn't sure, but he figured his heart was currently breaking.

At the moment Midorima slammed his bedroom door shut, Takao's heart also broke. The demon collapsed onto the couch and sobbed into a pillow. He never meant to hurt his human. He wasn't sure what to do now, but he hoped his best friend had an idea. So, once he got his crying under control, he pulled out his phone and left the apartment. He needed air as he called Kise.

"Hey, Kazu!" Kise's upbeat voice called out as he answered Takao's call.

"Ryouta..." Takao sniffled as he wiped away a few tears.

"Huh? Kazu, what's wrong?" Takao explained all that had happened as he tried to not cry more. "Just calm down Kazu. I'm sure he'll realize you meant no harm."

"But what if he doesn't. Ryouta, what will I do if he doesn't want me around anymore? He doesn't trust his own feelings now because of me. I don't... I don't think I can go through this again."

"Kazu, breathe, just breathe. You aren't sounding like yourself right now. You just need to remain calm."

"Listen Takao," It was Kasamatsu now, "You just have to give him some space. You know how he is, so you know pushing him won't help. Let him cool off and then just try to rebuild trust."

"But, what if he doesn't even want to look at me? Or if the trust is completely gone with no hope of returning?"

"I've known Midorima a long time. I could tell he has feelings for you the last time we hung out. That was only a few days ago, and with Midorima, if he cares about someone he won't be able to let his feelings go so easily."

"Really?"

"Of course Kazu! Don't worry! I'm sure all this will get better soon!"

"Stay positive Takao."

"Thanks, guys. I feel a little better now... I should get going now." With that, they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Takao did feel better after their conversation, but he was still nervous about seeing Midorima again. He didn't really know what he would say, but when he got into the apartment, the human was still in his room. The demon hoped that by the time Midorima exited his room, they both would have their thoughts in order and could come to some sort of resolution to ensure Takao could at least keep protecting his human. So, hoping for the least terrible outcome was all the love-struck demon could do now.


	6. Breaking

Midorima couldn't spend his life in his bedroom, so he eventually left his room the next morning. However, when Takao tried to speak, the human paid no attention to him. It was like the demon no longer existed in Midorima's eyes. The demon's concern grew as the ignoring continued into the next day, and even more so the following one.

Thankfully for Takao, after the complete two days of silence, he came home from work to find a note. It was from Midorima and it explained how the human was still figuring things out. He told Takao that he wanted to continue to pretend like the demon didn't exist for the time being. The note ended with the human saying he didn't want Takao to actually disappear, not yet at least.

That note not only lifted the demon's spirit, but it started the pair's only form of communication for the next few days. Midorima would sometimes leave a note about groceries or laundry, but even though they were nothing special, they still continued to lift Takao's spirit and hopes. He never left a note of his own though, since he didn't want to break the not existing rule that was in effect. Even so, just Midorima's written words were enough for him.

This is what led to Takao lounging around on one of the couches close to midnight, just thinking about his human as he watched TV. He didn't want to rush Midorima, but he also hated waiting. He just wanted the human to decide fast, but he was also afraid he'd make an upsetting decision. He sighed loudly, before covering his mouth. He'd been trying to remain as silent as possible since he didn't want to wake his human up. However, his efforts were wasted as he soon found out.

"Takao." The demon jolted up from the couch with a girlish shriek but fell to the ground due to his legs being asleep. From the ground he looked up at Midorima who was standing over him now.

"...Ah... Um, Shin you nearly scared the life out of me!"

"That was not my intention, I apologize." He didn't look sorry at all, in fact, he seemed completely emotionless. However, under the mask, Takao could see Midorima wasn't as calm as he seemed to be.

"Why are you awake at his hour? Is something wrong? You're not sick or hurt are you?" Now Takao's guardian switch was turned on and his panic induced irritation faded. The human just held up his hand to stop his demon's freak out.

"I am fine. I have finally come to a conclusion about our situation." At the word conclusion, Takao's heart dropped and fear began to grow.

"I see..." Midorima ignored the hesitancy in the demon's voice. Instead, he decided to turn on the lights in the living room and turn off the TV. Once his tasks were complete, he sat down on the couch and motioned for Takao to join him.

The demon followed the order and sat next to the human. Neither said anything for a few moments; they just stared at each other. Within Takao's mind, he was going through scenarios where Midorima's choice completely shatters him. He was terrified that Midorima no longer wanted to be near him or that he now hated him. Each silent moment that passed caused his mind to tumble further down into the abyss of negativity.

"My decision is this; we will remain together and will break my curse. I do not fully trust you, but I also don't believe you have any ulterior motives against me. I also do not want you to leave as I have grown accustomed to your presence. This is one thing that I am, for sure, feeling for myself, without being influenced by anyone else."

"Alright, I understand."

"I wasn't finished."

"Oh, my bad."

"I also know that I do indeed feel something for you. I, however, think it is best left to discuss until after we break my curse." Once the human was finished speaking, he and Takao were just staring at each other once again. Midorima couldn't help but sigh before speaking. "I am done now, you can respond."

"Oh! Alright! Well Shin, I fully understand your decision. We'll work together to break your curse. I'll be good and not try to woo you until after that. But after, you better be prepared, I'll go to any human extreme to win your heart." Takao spoke with a huge confident smile on his face. He was glad... no, he was completely thrilled to hear Midorima's decision. He now knew that it wasn't only the demon who'd grown attached, but the human as well.

"There are some rules until then."

"Huh?" It wasn't the rules that confused Takao, it was that Midorima seemed completely okay with the demon eventually trying to win his heart. He'd been expecting the human to tell him to shut up or die for saying such things. "What are the rules?"

"You will not sleep next to me and you will not be overly close and affectionate either."

"Oh, is that it?"

"Do you want more?" The human seemed fully willing and ready to add a few more. Takao's response was him waving his arms and beginning to panic.

"N-N-N-N-No! You don't have to do that!" Takao's panicky stuttering and flailing caused Midorima to smile and let out a little chuckle. The actions caught the demon completely off guard. "Huh... Did you just...?" Takao had witnessed his human's reaction to him, and it honestly concerned him. The green-haired male didn't make it a habit to show such things in front of the demon or anybody.

"Don't be an idiot."

"But..."

"It seems you want another rule."

"Ack! I'll shut up now, no need for that!" To the demon's surrender, the green-haired male smiled again, but this time it was internally.

"On to the next topic, what are your ideas on breaking my curse?"

"Well, we could go to a shrine to ask them for help, or we could try our own exorcism type thing." Takao continued thinking before shrugging. "If all else fails, we can just go ask the goddess to lift the curse."

"That's all you have?"

"Yup!" He was smiling at his human and seemed proud of himself. "Well Shin, do you have any ideas?" The human remained silent and looked away from Takao. "I thought so." The demon laughed as he smiled at Midorima. The human, however, glared at him in return.

"Now that we have ideas, we can act on them."

"Alright, let's go to our first stop; a shrine!" Takao shot up and went to retrieve the keys to Midorima's car, but was stopped by the human grabbing his arm.

"You are aware that it is the middle of the night, correct?"

"Oh... I forgot." Takao laughed sheepishly before returning to the couch. "I guess we should sleep now and go in the morning."

"Yes, that would be wise." Midorima stood up and headed to his room. He paused at the open door before entering and turned to look at the demon. "Goodnight Takao." There was a warmer look in his eyes than usual, it brought a good feeling up in Takao's heart.

"Goodnight Shin. Sleep well." With that, the green-haired male entered his room, leaving Takao to himself in the living room. He decided to not dwell on anything and just fall asleep. He knew that thinking about it all would just cause a headache so, Takao snuggled into his couch that he'd turned into his bed and began to drift off. Both the demon and human fell asleep quickly, thinking of only one thing; each other.

The two woke up early the following morning and ate breakfast together for the first time since their fight. It was a simple breakfast and it was quiet, but both the human and demon enjoyed it. Takao couldn't help but smile the entire time. However, his happiness seemed to annoy Midorima on the outside. Even so, the human was actually grateful for it. He would never actually admit it to himself, nor would he tell Takao, but he'd missed seeing the demon happy. The human felt happy when he saw the demon happy, but Midorima didn't want to dwell on it for too long.

Once breakfast was over, the pair got ready for the day and headed out. They'd finally figured out which shrine to go to, so they promptly made their way there. The ride to the shrine was mostly in silence since Takao decided to pout in the car. He wanted to drive but Midorima still refused to let the demon drive with him in the car, even though he'd been letting Takao drive his car for a while now.

"Shin, what was the name of the shrine? I already forgot." Midorima couldn't help but sigh at his companion's idiotic question.

"You fool, how do you forget something so easy to remember."

"Then what's it called?" Takao had a feeling the green-haired male also forgot, so it was a trick question. He waited patiently for the human to reply, however, the human didn't respond immediately. He looked like he was in deep thought for a few seconds before speaking to his demon.

"The shrine is called... Well, it's something to do with good fortune." Takao smiled at his human. He hid his face from the human, so he could avoid Midorima getting irritated with him.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. We know it's a large shrine, so I'm sure they can help us somehow. I know it will go well."

However, Takao was very wrong. The moment he stepped onto the shrine grounds, he was overcome with nausea. Along with that, he felt as if he were 1000 pounds and was brought to his knees due to the pressure. His breathing picked up and he was nearly gasping for air.

"Ta-Takao?" Midorima looked entirely concerned for the male. He wasn't sure what to do as he watched his guardian suffering. He didn't understand what happened to him so suddenly. The demon coughed and held onto Midorima's arm that the green-haired male offered to him.

"Holy grounds... Demon..." Takao's raspy words between coughs were enough for the human. He realized what had caused the demon's reaction, so he knew he needed to take action. Midorima instantly slid his arms under Takao and lifted him up. If anyone was seeing the events taking place with the pair, neither male was aware. All Midorima could think about was getting Takao to safety, and obviously, all Takao thought was that he was going to die. So, quickly, the green-haired male made

his way to the car. Once at the vehicle, Takao was sat down in the seat. He could then breathe better and slowly returned to normal.

"Are you alright?" Even though he was clearly okay now, Midorima was still concerned about Takao.

"I was more shocked you could pick me up so easily." He weakly smiled up at the worried human.

"Takao!"

"Sorry Shin, it's just surprising to see you so worried. Don't be too concerned though, I'm fine now."

"I was merely concerned that my guardian would no longer be able to protect me. I couldn't care less about your well being."

"Sure, of course." Neither male actually believed what the green-haired male said, but Takao decided to not mention it.

"What will we do now?"

"You'll have to go in there alone. There's no way I can enter the shrine grounds."

"I see." Midorima wasn't sure about that. He was worried again, but for a different reason. He was, by no means, a people person and it was obvious.

"I believe in you, Shin! You can do it!"

"I suppose I have no other choice."

"If you need any help, call for me and I'll be there."

"Just stay there and shut up." Midorima glared at Takao for a moment before turning and re-entering the shrine grounds. He rapidly made his way to where all the people were and began asking questions. He was hesitant, but he wasn't sure who to talk to, so he had to talk to various people. Thankfully, he was eventually pointed to where the shrine keeper was.

The shrine keeper seemed to be a priest type old man and looked friendly. He smiled at everyone around him and happily chatted with them. That was until his eyes fell onto Midorima. His smile faded and annoyance and disgust appeared on his face, along with hate in his eyes.

"What do you want?" His voice was low and harsh, catching the green-haired male off guard. The other people around either turned away and pretended to not notice anything, or they watched with the same disgusted face and hateful eyes directed at Midorima. It honestly unnerved the male, but he kept up his usual confident act.

"I am here for assistance."

"With your demon problem?" The priest man chuckled humorlessly before speaking again. "Then again, you seem to be close to it, as his aura is surrounding you. It seems you've been marked by the beast."

"How did..." Midorima wanted to know how the priest knew, but he also didn't want to know. Either way, it wasn't the most important thing at that moment. "No, the demon is not my problem, not right now at least. I've been cursed by a goddess."

"I refuse to assist a lover of a demon. You are as tainted and vile as he is. I am unsure how you were even able to enter holy grounds, however, it is time for you to leave. Also, do not return."

"...Very well." Midorima could tell to not bother arguing with the man. His words, along with his face told him all he needed to know. So, with nothing left to do, Midorima turned around and began walking away.

"Be careful around that beast. There's no telling when he'll decide to get rid of you. He will use you for his pleasure and get rid of you by his own hands one day. All demons are like that." The green-haired male paused to turn back around. Written on his face was irritation towards the man.

"You are wrong. Not all demons are like that. You should get to know one first before accusing them all of such things." With those final confident words, Midorima fully left the shrine and returned to his car where Takao sat. As he walked, he was able to reign in his anger and calm down. So, as soon as the demon saw his human, he didn't see anything but mild annoyance, which was common for Midorima. Overcome with relief at seeing his human, Takao jumped out of the car and made his way to greet his human. He'd been nervous knowing anything could happen to Midorima and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

"How'd it go, Shin?" The human ignored him and got into the car. Takao quickly followed after him and patiently waited for the human to tell him the story.

"It didn't go at all. They refused to help as soon as they saw me."

"What?! Why?"

"Because I am "lovers" with a demon. The priest could tell I was close with you." Takao was momentarily in shock. He wasn't exactly sure what to respond, he just knew he felt bad about it. "I never thought someone would be able to see a demon's aura around a human."

"He may not have been a human. It's possible he was an angel or a god."

"I see."

"Well, it was a long shot anyway. We can still try an exorcism by ourselves." Takao smiled at Midorima, trying to keep up the positive vibes.

"How are we exactly supposed to go about an exorcism?"

"Well first, there's some stuff we need to get before we can start." Takao pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to his human. There were about 10 items written in the demon's handwriting. "I'm hoping this will work. It's not common to try to find an exorcism for a god or goddess, especially for a curse from them."

"Will it actually work then?"

"It could, but it's also possible that it will fail horribly." It was very concerning to Midorima to see Takao say that with a smile on his face.

"What could happen?" To his inquiry, Takao just shrugged, clearly avoiding the question. It was enough for Midorima to be unsure of trying the exorcism.

"We'll find out then, so let's just get all we need." Midorima reluctantly agreed and headed to all the places Takao directed him to.

The human was left in the car each time the demon retrieved the supplies. It was quite fine with the green-haired human, he didn't want to enter witchcraft shops. He didn't even want to think about the strange items that were most likely in there. Even though he no longer looked at his horoscope, he was still very superstitious.

"Where to next?"

"Hmm... It seems we have everything on the list now. Let's go get lunch?"

"It's 5:30 in the afternoon."

"...Let's go get dinner?" Midorima couldn't help but sigh. He then thought for a moment, but food was definitely something he was up for. The two had only eaten breakfast that day, so it made sense that they were hungry.

"Fine."

"Yes! I know the perfect place!" Takao gave him directions to the destination. Midorima was glad they would be getting food and that it was the last place they needed to go.

"What kind of place are we going?"

"The perfect place." He had a smirk on his face and it was causing Midorima to now be wary of where they were going.

It was the perfect place, for Takao. It was also not a restaurant like Midorima assumed it would be. Takao guided them to the bar he works at. As they pulled into the parking lot, he was clearly very proud of himself.

"I suppose it could be worse..." Midorima had to admit, he was disappointed that it wasn't a restaurant, but he was happy that it wasn't some cheap fast food place. So, the human was slightly proud of the demon. He even allowed Takao to drag, him by holding his hand, into the bar.

"Hey there Ryouta!" Takao nearly yelled out as the pair entered the doors. The blond male looked over and smiled at the two.

"Hey, Kazu! I see you've finally brought your man."

"He isn't..." Takao couldn't help but blush at the words and quickly release Midorima's hand.

"We're here for food, not pointless chatter." Midorima coldly spoke as the two approached the bar where Kise stood.

"Oh, I see. So what do you guys want?" Kise glared at Takao as he spoke. The demon couldn't help but smile apologetically at his best friend. He'd never gotten the chance to tell Kise about the human's decision, so it was quite a shock that they walked in together.

"Sorry Ryouta, this happened last night. I never got the chance to tell you."

"Well, tell me now then." Takao agreed and began to explain. Midorima joined in the explanation, simply to hurry it along so they could get food.

"...and that's how we ended up here." Takao smiled at the blond as he finished his explanation. The angel in return just nodded his head at the long story.

"Can we order food now?"

"Of course!" Kise quickly found a menu and gave it to the pair. "Let me know when you're ready."

The two ordered after a few moments and ate quickly. They spent some time chatting with Kise and Kasamatsu, who showed up a little after they did. They were taking so much time in the bar that Midorima grew suspicious.

"Takao..."

"Yes, Shin?" He turned to his human smiling. He was clearly having a good time.

"Why are we here? Don't tell me it's simply just for dinner."

"Well, Shin, you're right. I didn't want to say anything in front of others, but..." Takao then turned to Kise. "The last piece we need for the exorcism is a feather from an angel." Kise paused in pouring a drink to look over at his best friend. It was clear that he was not expecting him to say that.

"Just what are you going to do with it?" Midorima was surprised by how serious Kise sounded in an instant.

"We need it to try an exorcism to remove Shin's curse."

"Why a feather?" Kasamatsu was just as confused as Midorima.

"It needs to be something from a holy being. An angel is obviously a holy being and the best and safest thing from them is a feather. It also makes the power of the holy object stronger if it comes from someone who is close to who is having the exorcism." Takao was also being completely serious, which shocked the green-haired human even further.

"How do you plan on doing that? Are you just going to tear out one of his feathers?" Kasamatsu was still confused, but he knew enough to know Kise would be getting hurt in some way. He didn't like the thought of his lover being hurt, even a little bit.

"What? No! I would never ask him to do something that would seriously hurt him. I would let him take it out himself. Angels can remover feathers if they get damaged so it would be painless!" Takao was panicking slightly. He could tell how protective Kasamatsu was

over his guardian, which also was confusing to him.

"Yukio, it's okay. He's right." Kise calmed his lover down before looking to his best friend. "Do you really think the exorcism will work?"

"It's a possibility..." Kise sighed before smiling again. "I'll go remove a feather but Midorima will have to carry it. It's a holy item, it could hurt you."

"Thank you, Ryouta. I'll owe you. Anything you want, I'll do."

"I'll think of what I want, so for now, you just wait. I won't waste this chance." He chuckled as he spoke, and with that, Kise disappeared into a separate room. Only a few minutes later he returned with a beautifully pure white feather in hand. It was much larger than Midorima had been expecting, but then again, it wasn't like he ever saw an angel's wings before. "Here you go. Be careful with this Midorima. Don't let this touch Kazu, not even a slight brush against him."

"I understand. Thank you for assisting us."

"Of course. Kazu has been chasing after you for years, so there's no way I wouldn't do anything I could to help you in any way." The statement caused Midorima's face to grow hot, but he thankfully did not blush any.

"I see..." He gently took the feather and placed it carefully in a pocket within his jacket for safety.

"Well, we should get going now. It's getting late and we have an exorcism to try." Takao hugged Kise as Kasamatsu and Midorima said their farewells.

"Let me know how it goes. Don't keep any more secrets from me, not even for a day."

"Sure thing." Takao and Kise chuckled as the two began to part.

Midorima and his demon didn't rush home once they left the bar, making that the first time Midorima actually drove the speed limit that day. The two casually drove home as they were slightly nervous about how their next attempt would go. However, the pair were still hopeful that the exorcism would work. It seemed that hope, once again, was all the human and demon could do.


	7. Ritual

It was nearly 7 in the afternoon when Midorima and Takao returned home. They were exhausted and ready for bed, but their day wasn't over yet. They still had a very important task; the exorcism.

"What do we need to do first?" Midorima inquired as he and his demon brought all the supplies into the apartment.

"We'll need to create a circle using some salt. It will be where you'll stand in while we're performing the exorcism." Takao pulled out a photo of an intricate salt circle. "Do you think you could make this on the living room floor? I can't touch the salt."

"We're doing it here?"

"We'd risk getting caught anywhere else. We can't afford to be stressed over other people as we do this."

"I see." Midorima took the photo from Takao and examined it. "I believe I can do this."

"Alright, well, you do that and I'll do the rest." Takao disappeared into the kitchen, so Midorima began his task. They'd bought quite a lot of salt so he had plenty to use, and he'd definitely needed it.

Takao eventually returned with a bowl and began putting various items in it. One of the items were quite a few strands of green hair. It concerned Midorima, but he said nothing about it. There were a few other things that went in the bowl. Some looked like regular spices and some were odd colored flakes. The human had no clue what was going in, other than his hair, and he honestly didn't want to know.

"Shin, the last two things are something you'll have to do. After that, it's all up to you. You will be the only one able to handle what this will be used for and I have my own tasks that only I can do."

"What is it?" The green-haired male had finished with the salt circle, so he instantly headed to Takao. There was the feather sitting on the table along with a bottle of clear liquid. "What is that?"

"Holy water. I got it from Ryouta earlier to give to you. Just in case I decided to "jump you" as he said." The demon laughed and took a step back away from the table to give the human room to move there. The human's ears tinted pink out of embarrassment from the statement, but it was thankfully ignored by the demon.

"I see..."

"So, anyway, pour in the whole bottle but do nothing with the feather for now. Once you pour the holy water, stir it with the spoon I brought out." Midorima followed Takao's instructions exactly. As he stirred, the ingredients combined and turned green, just like his hair color.

"What do I do with the feather?"

"You will dip it in the mixture to fully saturate it, then, but not until it's fully green, you'll light it on fire." Midorima looked at the feather and then at the matches sitting next to it.

"I feel odd burning Kise's feather..." Midorima didn't want to admit it, but he felt like he had to.

"Don't worry, the actual feather won't burn, just the green on it will."

"Why is it green anyway?"

"It matches the color of hair that's put into it, or so the website said." Midorima nodded and looked at the feather. It was now completely covered in green. "We'll leave it be for now. There's something that I have to say first."

"What is it?"

"Listen, Shin, I could die if this goes wrong. To be honest, I'm going to be hurt regardless, but if you do anything wrong or if I mess up the words..."

"I understand..." Midorima was nervous now. He didn't like that his demon was going to be hurt, but he definitely didn't like hearing he could die. He truly didn't want that to happen.

"So, when this starts, I will be in pain. A demon like me shouldn't be near this type of ritual, but I have to speak the words. They need to be perfect."

"Alright."

"Well, let's get started, Shin." Midorima nodded his head and picked up the green feather. He lit it as he stepped into the salt circle and then looked to Takao. The oddly green smoke startled the human as it began to swirl around him. Takao was thankful that it was going right so far, as the smoke was staying within the circle.

Takao began to speak the words written on his paper. His voice was low and serious. Midorima wasn't sure what language it was, but he could tell it was ancient. Midorima was mesmerized at how beautiful Takao was sounding at that moment.

Everything was calm as the smoke flowed around the human, however, the calm soon turned into a storm. All at once, after Takao read the final line, the smoke flowed out of the circle. Takao began to choke, but he didn't seem worried. He'd been expecting the smoke to act like that; what he wasn't expecting was when Midorima began to choke as well. It seemed like the purifying smoke was attacking the demon and human.

Unsure of what to do, Takao quickly reached into the circle to pull Midorima out. Being a demon, the moment he entered the circle, he was burned. It was an internal burn that traveled throughout him instantly. He was shoved backward by the purifying salt's barrier, still gasping for air. He did manage to grab the human, but he too was pulled down.

The demon hit the floor with Midorima on top of him. The feather landed away from both of them thankfully, but the holy water mixture was knocked off of the table onto the human. Most of the liquid flowed from the human onto the demon, causing Takao to cry out in pain.

Now that Midorima was out of the circle, the smoke began to fade. The ritual was now over and it had failed. It left both males unconscious on the floor. It took a half hour for both to wake up, but even after they woke up, they didn't feel better. They actually felt worse than they had before. Midorima felt overly hot inside and had a bad cough. Takao felt burnt internally and just all around horrible. It hurt to move and to breathe, but he didn't show that much pain to his human. With the purifying smoke and holy water coming in direct contact with him, he was injured badly and in a lot of pain.

"Takao, are you alright?" His voice was hoarse, but the human's concern still showed through.

"...I'm okay..." Takao did his best to smile, but it was clearly forced.

"You're lying." Midorima was annoyed with him trying to pretend, but he also didn't want to be too harsh on him. So, ignoring the protests of the demon, the human lifted Takao up and into his arms as if the demon was a bride. Takao wanted to be embarrassed, but at that moment he could do nothing but fell pain in that room. He brought Takao into his bathroom and stripped the demon down completely.

"S-Shin? What are you doing?" Takao's strong embarrassment now won over the pain and was embarrassed beyond belief, but also relieved that the holy water soaked clothing was off of his body. However, with his feelings, his whole body began to blush.

"You need to get the holy water off of you." Midorima turned the water on in his shower and sprayed the naked demon with his detachable shower head. The water was ice cold, causing Takao to shriek loudly, which then caused both men to cringe at the loud noise.

"Shin, I can do it myself." Takao quickly grabbed the shower head and set it in the shower for a moment. He then began to shoo away the human. Midorima wanted to argue with him, but he figured that the demon could, indeed, take it from there, so he allowed himself to be pushed from the bathroom. Even so, the human still needed to tell Takao something. He needed to tell him it was okay that it failed, but when he turned around to say it, he froze. In his original worried state, he didn't actually look at Takao's naked body, but now that he was calmed down and had a full view of him, he could see everything.

"Um..." Midorima's face turned entirely red as both males just stared at each other. It took a moment for Takao's mind to reset and react to the situation. His whole body once again turned completely red and he gasped, completely shocked at how things just turned out.

"Get out!" The flustered demon quickly shoved the human out of the bathroom, a little stronger than he intended to. Midorima nearly fell over but was able to use his bed as a support instead of hitting the ground. His face was still totally red and his heart was racing. Takao was feeling the same way, but his reaction was caused by embarrassment.

"...Wow..." The green-haired male wasn't sure how he was feeling now, but he knew he shouldn't dwell on it too long, for various reasons. So, the human decided to take his mind off of it and get ready for bed. It didn't work, but he was at least now able to climb into his comfortable bed. Just as he was getting situated, the bathroom door opened up. Takao was only wearing a towel around his waist and it was clear he was still blushing. He tried to avoid looking at his human as he searched for a pair of clothes. Moments of awkward silence went by before the human decided to break it. "Takao...?"

"Oh... Hello Shin..." It was clear he was still embarrassed, especially since he was grabbing at his clothes in a more panicked way. Once he accomplished his mission, he was prepared to run out of the room but was stopped.

"Wait!" At Midorima's voice, Takao froze and slowly turned to face the human. "Sleep next to me tonight. You've been hurt so you shouldn't sleep alone. It would be... unfortunate if you were to get worse at night, alone on the couch."

"A-Are you sure? That was one of your rules." Midorima nodded his head and pulled the blankets back to reveal where Takao slept before their issues. The demon was touched by the concern that his human felt towards him. "Well, alright, but you can't get angry with me in the morning."

"Just get in the bed Takao." The green-haired male finished situating himself under the covers as Takao climbed into bed next to him. The pair faced away from each other, but it was enough. It was still comforting to both of them just to be next to each other, once again. Midorima didn't want to admit it, but he'd been missing this just as much as Takao had.

The two woke up the next morning

from the best sleep they'd gotten in a while. At least Midorima did and Takao pretended to have. Even though his wounds were not visible, they continuously woke him up every few hours that night. He made sure to suffer in silence so he didn't wake his human or make him worry further. He also didn't want Midorima to know how serious he was hurt.

"Well Shin, let's get breakfast and then head out to the shrine!" Takao was smiling and happy once again, on the outside.

"How are you feeling?" The green-haired male was still concerned about his demon, even though he didn't want to admit his concern.

"I'm fine. I'm a demon, so I heal faster than a human would!" He smiled wide and it was enough to fool the human. Midorima nodded his head and climbed out of bed. He went off to the bathroom to prepare for the day as Takao struggled to get out of bed. The pain struck him and shot through his body. He nearly collapsed to the ground from the nearly crippling and sudden pain. However, he ignored it and fought through it. He eventually made it to the kitchen where he was able to make an amazing breakfast for his beloved human. To his relief, all through the breakfast, Midorima still didn't notice how much pain the demon was in.

"Takao, you're eating too slow. Finish up and then go and get ready. I will clean up." Midorima had already finished his breakfast and was eager to head out. Takao was taking a little longer due to him being tired. The tiredness also brought along annoyance towards his human's orders, but he knew he wasn't really annoyed with him. He was trying to not show his lack of sleep as well, so he kept his smile on his face.

"Sure thing Shin! I'll be ready in a minute!" Takao quickly finished his food and fled from the kitchen to Midorima's bedroom. He stripped fast but paused as he put on his clothes. In the mirror on the wall, he could see his wounds. They were now visible and clearly showed how badly he was hurt.

"Takao!"

"Ah!" The demon rapidly threw on his clothes and ran out to meet Midorima. He was waiting for him by the door with an impatient look on his face. Takao put his shoes on and smiled up at his human. "Alright, I'm ready!" Midorima seemed deep in thought, prompting Takao to question him.

"Will you be able to enter the shrine grounds?"

"The goddess is tainted by hate, so I should be able to. Hopefully."

"I suppose we shall see..."

"Yeah..." The two made their way to Midorima's car, only to find it broken down and not able to be started.

"This decides to happen now?" It made Takao uneasy. Since the beginning of him becoming Midorima's guardian, his presence had been able to keep away the misfortune. He was worried now because his human's curse was acting up, meaning that the demon was weaker, due to the injury, than he thought he was.

"Let's call a taxi. We need to get there today." The demon was worried he would continue to grow weaker, leaving the human's life at risk.

Takao only hoped he had enough strength to protect Midorima. He didn't want his human to be hurt in any way. The green-haired male, on the other hand, hoped they would finally be able to break his curse. Not only to go back to his normal life but to be able to figure out and explore his true feelings for Takao. Midorima had no idea that his demon might not make it that long.


	8. Final Attempt

Thankfully, Midorima and Takao's taxi didn't break down on their way to the shrine and it was surprisingly a normal ride. That had Takao on edge more than before. He figured that the goddess was wanting them to come to her, but he didn't know why. He simply knew that it was most likely not a good thing. He didn't mention anything to Midorima though, he didn't want to worry the human.

Once the two arrived and exited the car, they found themselves hesitating. Neither one had actually entered the shrine grounds yet, instead, they stood there and looked to where they were supposed to go. It wasn't like they were afraid, they were just slightly nervous about it. Both the human and the demon had no idea what was about to happen. Plus, Takao was still worried about being able to protect his human in his weakened state.

"Takao, are you sure you'll be able to enter the shrine?" It was the human who'd finally broken the silence. He was trying to hide it, but it was obvious that he was worried about the demon.

"Well, the goddess... Have I even told you what her name is yet?"

"I don't think so?"

"Ah, well her name is Yoshi... Anyway, she is corrupted, so I'm sure the grounds aren't holy or anything. I'm more concerned about her powers as a goddess. Even though she herself is corrupted, there still may be some residual holy powers within her." Takao wasn't lying about his worries, but he also wasn't telling his human the whole truth.

"I'm sure if she wanted to kill us, she would have already."

"I wouldn't say that just yet Shin. You don't know how this is going to go. We could both die here." Midorima could now tell how concerned his demon was. It caused the green-haired male to also begin to feel those emotions as well, but for some reason, he was still more concerned about Takao than himself.

"Well, we won't solve anything by just standing here. We should get going now."

"You're right. Let's go." With that, both males began to walk up the path that led to the actual shrine. It looked even more run down than it did the first time Midorima had been there. However, they weren't there to sight-see, so they continued to walk, but began to walk slightly faster. Considering how slow they'd originally been walking, it took a little time, but they eventually made it to the actual shrine part.

As they walked up the final part of the hill the path was on, they were able to see two figures standing at the shrine. One was a beautiful woman with silver-white hair. She wore flowing robes of flowers that were mainly green but had various other colors. She seemed to give off a powerful aura, alerting the human and demon to her being the goddess, Yoshi. Standing next to the corrupt goddess was someone who shocked the two males, Hiretsuna.

"Oh look there Yoshi, they've finally come to see us." The angel wore a condescending smirk on her face, but her eyes spoke even more negativity. Instead of feeling threatened, Midorima was just annoyed.

"We've come to talk to the goddess, not you." Midorima retorted harshly, however as he tried to continue speaking, he was cut off by Takao stepping in front of him protectively.

"Oh calm down, you vile beast. We have no intention of hurting your precious human... Not quite yet." So far, only the angel had spoken. The goddess had only glared at Midorima silently from the angel's side. The two males would have thought she would say something already since she was the one with the problem towards Midorima.

"Goddess Yoshi, we are here to ask you to release Midorima from the curse you placed on him." Takao's voice had no worry within it, only confidence, even if it was fake. He was terrified and was struggling to even remain standing at that point, but he refused to show weakness to his enemies, even if they already knew.

At Takao's words, the goddess finally made some form of acknowledging their presence. She instantly contorted her face in hate and practically glowed from her anger.

"How dare such filth speak to me! The only thing worse than humans are demons. Now I have both standing in front of me. It makes me sick!" Yoshi's words were as harsh as the look on her face. As she was fuming with anger, the two males were shocked at her sudden outburst. Her reaction was seemingly delayed. By now, they had been standing there for a few minutes, but such hate should have come out instantly, or so they figured. Something just seemed off with the goddess.

"Now now, you two are upsetting her. You should apologize." The angel was still smirking and looked even more smug than before.

"Shin, I think there's more to this than we thought." Takao didn't bother whispering his suspicion since the two females would hear him regardless.

"What do you mean?" The human was confused by the situation. Midorima wasn't sure how any of this was going anymore. All he knew was that he could see Takao shaking and it made him honestly more worried about the male.

"I think the goddess is consumed by her hate of humans, but it also seems as if Hiretsuna is controlling her."

"How would that be possible?"

"Well, she might have been able to take control when Yoshi became corrupt. She could have also pushed the goddess into corruption. I'm not sure but look at their eyes. Something just looks off." At Takao's words, Midorima looked intently at both females' eyes. The angel's eyes were glowing brightly, while the goddess's eyes were dull and colorless.

"I see..."

"That means your curse was most likely due to her, not the goddess herself. That means more problems for us."

"You are correct," Hiretsuna began confirming Takao's theory, "But, I'm confused. Answer me this, why are you two so close? I thought I'd destroyed your relationship." Her smile was now gone, only irritation was written on her face. "I'd hoped you two wouldn't be able to repair what you had, but you seem even closer than you were before."

"Takao wasn't completely honest with me, but neither was I. I had remembered our time we originally spent together. I lied about not remembering and pretended that I didn't know him at all. That is why I was able to move past the issue so quickly." As Midorima spoke, Takao's head whipped around to look at him in shock. The green-haired male thought he even heard the snap of something breaking inside the demon due to his action.

"Ha, I see. So you already know the depths of his feelings for you. I thought your reaction was relatively calm and your resolution happened fairly quick. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised."

"Shin, why didn't you tell me?" Takao wasn't sure what more he could say to his human. He wanted to be angry over it, but he knew he didn't have any right to criticize him for keeping something from him, especially now.

"I was planning on telling you once my curse was broken." Before any more words from either male could be spoken, the irritated angel spoke up.

"Did you two come to talk, or what?"

"You asked us the question first?" Takao's cheeky response earned a hate-filled glare from Hiretsuna.

"That's true. I only wanted to know why my plan failed, I didn't need to hear more than that. You know, I intended on taking back my precious human, but you, disgusting filth, got to remain with him. Even after all the work, I did. I set things up perfectly for my plans, but you had to ruin it all. You just couldn't let go of one little human. Do you know how hard it is to keep a goddess under control? I've spent 100s of years ruining her relationship with humans. All so I could control her."

"Why would you want to control her? Also, why curse Shin when you already had a different plan since the start?"

"I just wanted to be happy... but no matter how positive things go for me, there's always something that ruins it."

"Instead of the goddess, the one who is truly corrupt is you," Midorima stated, stepping away from Takao. "You have ruined my life for your own pathetic needs. Whoever allowed you to become an angel was truly foolish."

"Shut up! What do you know!? You have always had good luck, but don't worry... I'll show you what true despair looks like. I'll teach you all about my suffering. That's why you've had such a good life. All so I could tear you apart one day!"

"You are completely insane. Your story keeps changing. You have no idea why you have done any of this. I truly pity you." Midorima didn't care one bit about Hiretsuna's rantings.

"Shin... Be careful. You shouldn't rile her up. We-"

"Be quiet Takao. I've had enough with being her pawn. This ends today." The human silenced his demon, but Takao was too worried to just do nothing. Midorima had begun to walk closer to the two females, and Takao wasn't confident he'd be able to reach him if anything were to happen. The demon's pain was slowly speeding up throughout his body. He could feel he didn't have much strength left. Being near the goddess and angel was draining him. Plus, he knew that they knew it as well, which made him all the more concerned.

"You say this ends today, but I want you to suffer more." It was the goddess once again, however she sounded as if she was slowly losing herself. "You must suffer the way I have..." As she spoke, she summoned a golden staff that was full of her power. It wasn't her corrupt power though, it was from a time she was still a pure holy being.

"Yoshi, just make sure you don't kill Shintarou. Just hurt him enough he suffers for quite a bit before dying."

"I understand..." Yoshi raised her staff over her head as the staff began to glow a beautifully bright, golden color. It was practically blinding.

"Shin, get back!" Takao summoned the strength in his body and closed the distance between himself and his human, placing his body in front of Midorima's. He stumbled along the way, but he was able to make it. It was good he did, since Midorima wanted to follow his order and move back,

but found himself frozen to the spot. "Goddess Yoshi, you do not want to do this. If you harm this human, you will never return to how you once were. You are about to commit the worst crime a god can do. You can't directly harm a human with your holy powers."

"They aren't holy any longer."

"They are! Look at yourself! You may be corrupt but you are being controlled. You aren't as far gone as you think!" Takao's desperate words fell on deaf ears. The goddess only smiled at him in response.

"You will die with your lover. A disgusting human and his demonic bitch. It's fitting for you two to be together, even in death." She pointed her staff at the two males as she smiled even wider, causing her to look completely insane, just as the angel. Her golden powers were focusing on the top of her staff, which was now pointed directly at the males. Even from their location, they were able to feel how much hate was put into her powers, making them so much stronger.

"This will be your end Takao. Don't worry, Shintarou will join you after a long-suffering." Hiretsuna laughed maniacally as the goddess chuckled darkly. Takao said nothing as he stood in front of his human. He focused on summoning all his remaining demonic powers.

"Takao..." It was low, and it was all the frozen human could struggle to say. Even though he said only one word, Takao knew he was telling the demon how concerned he was, even if he'd never actually say that out loud.

"Don't worry Shin. I'll protect you. I'll die a million deaths if it means you can live. I'm not doing this because I'm your guardian, I'm doing this because I am in love with you. Remember that." It was now clear in Takao's voice and body language; he was terrified.

"Now die." With those words, the goddess unleashed her holy powers on the human and demon. Golden rays were sent towards the pair. It was like the sun itself was sent towards the demon and human.

Everything happened all at once after that. Using his remaining power, Takao was able to partially transform into his demonic form, but he only was able to bring out his wings. So, deciding that was enough, he turned to face the human and fully surround Midorima with his bat-like wings. All he could do was hope it would protect his beloved human. The holy attack then hit them both without any time to even think about what was going on, but thankfully, Takao's wings with all his powers were strong enough to shield the human.

The power colliding with the wings caused an explosion of dust and smoke. If it weren't for the barrier the angel put up, at the last second, to keep others from knowing what was going on at the shrine, many people in the town would have heard and seen the event.

As the dust cleared and the residual power faded from the air around them, Takao laid motionless on the ground. Midorima laid under him covered in a deep red colored liquid. The blood from Takao's wings, which was what covered the human, was all that was left of them. They had been completely destroyed and torn off of his back, leaving two gaping and bleeding wounds as a result. Along with those wounds, Takao's entire back had been torn up with variously sized wounds. If it wasn't for his breathing, the two females would have thought he was dead. He only had faint breaths, being gasped in and out every few seconds. However badly he was hurt, if he'd been conscious, he would have been glad to see that his mission was complete. Not a single scratch was on his human.

"I told you to kill him! You are a truly pathetic goddess if you can't kill one single demon!" Hiretsuna snapped, getting angry at the now completely still goddess. "He's already weak, why didn't you kill him?!" The angel was glaring at Yoshi, but the aura around the goddess began to change, causing the glare to fall from the angel's face. Hiretsuna realized that Yoshi's eyes were no longer dull and colorless, they were now a beautiful golden color, just like her staff.

"Be quiet for once." Yoshi's voice was another thing that wasn't the same. It no longer sounded as it originally did. She sounded angry, but this time it wasn't because she was being forced to be angry, it was legitimate anger.

"What's going on?"

"You cannot control me any longer. I hate humans and you used that against me, you even made it worse, but I draw the line here. I went along with your plans so I could get revenge on humans, not a demon. He did nothing wrong to me. You are now trying to use me for your own personal vendettas and that is something I won't stand for. You led me to believe I would only harm humans, if anyone, but not innocents."

"He's a demon! He isn't innocent you stupid goddess!"

As the two began to argue, Midorima started to wake up. He felt the warm blood covering him, but he wasn't sure what it was until he opened his eyes. It was then he realized what had happened, causing his heart to drop. He was instantly horrified and scared when his eyes landed on Takao. The demon was still on top of him and was hardly breathing. His body didn't even seem as warm as it should have been.

"Ta-Takao?" The human's voice was low, so he didn't alert the females of his awoken state. "Takao!" Midorima shook the demon, hoping to wake him up, however it failed. The demon made no sign that he was aware of Midorima's efforts. The demon may not have noticed, but the two females did. They stopped their bickering and turned to the distraught human.

"You! Human, leave at once or I will kill you!" The goddess now spoke in a demanding voice, surprising Midorima. He looked up at the two and realized they noticed him. So, slowly and carefully, the human slid out from under Takao and stood up.

"I will not! You almost killed my guardian! I'm not leaving here until you do something about it. Fix his wounds!" Midorima was shockingly showing pure emotions, which reflected how deeply he was feeling at that moment.

"He was half dead, to begin with. Yoshi only helped his death along faster."

"Be quiet! You are the cause of all my problems. I don't want to hear anything from you!"

"Do you want Yoshi to break your curse? She can now if you want."

"I don't care about that anymore. Help Takao!"

"Human, you would rather this demon be saved than your curse be broken?" The goddess was surprised by his words, and waved her hand at Hiretsuna, causing her to stop speaking and freeze, just as Midorima was frozen moments ago.

"Yes."

"I see... However, I apologize, but I cannot save him. I would only do more harm, even so, if you wish for his death to not be in vain, convince me to break your curse. That was your reason for coming here in the first place, wasn't it?" Midorima glared at her before looking to his precious demon. He knew that Takao would want him to break his curse, no matter what. Midorima took a moment to think of his response, before sighing. He truly didn't want to have to go this route, but he didn't want to let Takao down for not taking the chance when he had it.

"I apologize for my behavior when I came here the first time. I understand apologies mean nothing, so to prove my feelings of regret, I will visit your shrine often. I will leave offerings and even bring others here to do the same. I will even fix your shrine back up to look as it once was."

"Why the change in attitude? The you before you were cursed would never have said such a thing."

"I have had enough time to realize that I am not above everyone else. I am still full of pride, but Takao had shown me a different way in life. He saved me from myself." Yoshi smiled at Midorima's words, it was a proud smile. She looked over to the demon, and then back to the green-haired male.

"I never thought a human could learn so much from a lowly demon. I will remove your curse."

"No! Why should you reward him for screwing a demon! He's filthy and vile! He should be killed along with his dog!" Hiretsuna began making her way to the human. It was difficult with the goddess' powers pushing her to stay put. "If you won't kill him, I'll do it myself!"

"No, you won't." Yoshi used more power to stop the angel, but she kept going. "Do not worry human, as long as you keep your promise, you will never be bothered by either of us again." With a wave of Yoshi's hand, Midorima and his demon faded away. Using her powers, the goddess had transported the pair safely back to Midorima's apartment.

Once the two landed in the living room, Midorima took a moment to thank the goddess before looking over his demon to see the extent of the damages. Takao was still bleeding and had yet to regain consciousness. His breathing was shallow and he wasn't even breathing as often as he was. Midorima knew he needed to do something to stop the bleeding, so he went off to search.

The human was not able to find a first aid kit, or anything to stitch up the wounds, so he settled for some towels. Unfortunately, all his towels were white, causing them to turn red the second they were placed on Takao. The ruined towels didn't bother the human at all, instead, they caused Midorima to be terribly concerned. He hoped that the demonic powers Takao had would do something to help. He didn't think he could die so easily, but at that moment, he thought back to the "half dead" comment the angel had mentioned.

"Takao, did the effects of that failed exorcism hurt you that badly? Why didn't you tell me?" Midorima was furious at his demon for hiding that from him. "You fool, you can't die now. We haven't even begun figuring us out. You can't give up on this now." The human hoped his demon heard him, but also hoped he wouldn't remember it. Saying that was very embarrassing for Midorima.

Pushing his embarrassment aside, Midorima wasn't sure what to do next. To his knowledge, he's never treated a demon before. He knew he should stitch up the gaping wounds, but he still didn't have anything to do that with. He didn't even know if that was the right thing or not. However, he thought for a moment and he realized that there was a person he could call for help. It was more like two people, but they were in the same location, so they counted as one.

The human quickly grabbed his phone and began dialing. There were only two people who were directly involved with breaking his curse and knew the full story of their relationship, so he hoped they would be willing to help now as well. The only two people that could help, was Kasamatsu and Kise. Thankfully, they were extremely reliable and answered the phone after only a few rings.

"Hey Midorima, how'd the exorcism go?" Kasamatsu was who answered, but Kise could be heard just as clearly next to the phone, begging to hear details about the event.

"Kasamatsu... Something happened... Takao needs help..." The green-haired male's voice was more emotional than he wanted it to be. He also sounded out of breath, which immediately caused the other human to know something terrible happened.

"What's going on?" At the worried voice of his lover, Kise began to panic in the background. Kasamatsu smacked him to get him to shut up as he waited for Midorima to explain the situation.

"There's a lot of blood and I don't know how to treat a demon... Please just bring Kise with you and come quick... I don't know how much time Takao had left in this state..." Without waiting for a reply, Midorima hung up. Before he could even do anything else, a wave of dizziness hit him hard. Even though he had no wounds, he felt injured. He concluded that he'd been hit by a wave of goddess power, a shockwave of sorts.

Midorima was slowly going into shock and was feeling extremely lightheaded. He didn't want to just pass out on the ground and cause more issues, so he carefully made his way to Takao and sat down next to him. He felt like breaking down, in more ways than one, but he knew he needed to wait, at least until his friends arrived. He hated feeling like this, but he didn't care at that moment. He would suffer through anything, just as long as Takao was okay again.

Those were his last thoughts as he slowly followed Takao into unconsciousness. As his eyes closed against his wishes, the final thing he saw was Takao's face, seemingly peaceful despite all the wounds he had.


	9. Saving Takao

As soon as Midorima hung up on them, Kasamatsu and Kise rushed out of their home. They quickly climbed into Kise's new blue sports car, with the human as the driver and headed towards Midorima's apartment. They didn't care if they were speeding or blowing through red lights, as everything was just a blur to them. They ended up reaching the apartment building in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

"Hurry up, Yukio!" Once the car was stopped, Kise was out and already halfway to the building.

"I'm coming, Ryouta. Let me grab the medical bag." Kasamatsu sounded angry, but he did understand Kise's reasons for rushing. The blond knew his human couldn't be as fast as him, so he slowed down slightly. With medical bag now in hand, the two worried friends made their way to Midorima's apartment as fast as humanly possible.

Once they reached the floor it was on, they practically ran to Midorima's door. That was where their rushing came to a halt. They tried the handle, but the door was locked. Kise frantically knocked on the door, but there were absolutely no sounds from inside. They even tried calling both Takao and Midorima's phones with no response from that either.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Kasamatsu looked to his lover only to witness Kise mumbling a few words before bringing up his leg and powerfully kicking the door. With a loud crash and various things cracking from the impact, the door split in half before it came tumbling to the ground with a thud.

"Look Yukio, the door's open." Kise smiled at his human before a horrified look took its place. Not only could the angel smell the blood from inside, but Kasamatsu could as well. "Oh god…" The blond was nearly too afraid to go into the apartment, but with Kasamatsu right behind him, he found his courage. It was that moment that the human was glad that the words Kise previously mumbled before kicking in the door were to set up a barrier. He hoped that along with the sight and sounds from the apartment were cut off from others, but hoped that the smell would also be in case anyone walked by.

With Kise now in the lead, the two began to enter the apartment. The first thing the two saw was little rivers of blood. Following them, they were led to a terrifying sight. Takao's mangled body lied in a pool of blood and the towels on him were fully drenched in crimson. It made it hard to believe he was alive, but he was, indeed, still breathing. Lying next to the demon was Midorima. He was also in a pool of blood, but it wasn't his. His phone was away from him but also covered in blood from one of the little rivers. It wasn't like he could have answered it anyway, considering he was clearly unconscious. Both of the human's hands were clinging to one hand of the demon's. If it weren't for all the blood and wounds, it would have been a cute sight

"Wha...What do we do?" Kise's voice was low and trembling. It was accompanied by a truly devastated look on his face. Neither things were common on the blond's face, causing Kasamatsu to take control of the situation.

"Wake up Midorima. He doesn't look hurt, but there could be internal damage. Don't shake him too much. If anything he's just in shock, but he needs to get over it quick." Kasamatsu pushed Kise when he realized that the angel still wasn't moving. "Go! I'll start handling Kazu."

"Okay…" Kise carefully stepped around the bloody body of his best friend to reach the unconscious human. Being an angel gave him some handy abilities, which he never really got to use, until now. Gently, Kise laid his hand on Midorima's forehead. He was able to heal the male enough that he could wake him up. He didn't want to go too far and use too much holy power so close to Takao. He didn't want to hurt him more than he was already.

It only took a few moments for the green-haired male to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the blond with dazed eyes. It was like he was still completely out of it, which worried Kise.

"Hey, Midorima? Are you okay?" Kise's voice was hesitant and nervous. Slowly, the haze cleared from the human's mind as his eyes widened. The entire situation came flooding back into his head.

"What's happening?" Midorima began to sit up, with Kise assisting him. Ignoring the angel, he looked at where his hands were connected with Takao's. That led him to realize Kasamatsu was at the demon's back trying to sow up the wounds. "How is he?"

"We just got here." Kise began trying to update the human. "When we got here you were passed out. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, only Takao was injured."

"So, what happened? You need to tell us so we can properly help Kazu." Kasamatsu cut into their conversation with his now worried voice. His hands were soaked in demon blood and he was beginning to panic on the inside.

"I always intended on telling you…" With that, the green-haired male began explaining the events from the exorcism, to where they were now. He remembered everything perfectly now and was able to mention every detail that could be important. He, however, chose to leave out his feelings and the fact that he had remembered his past time with Takao.

"Damn you Kazu… Why would he go there when he knew how badly he was hurt…" Kise was furious with his friend, but he knew it wasn't the time to get into it. He'd yell at him when he got better.

"So, what do we do now? He has wounds inflicted by holy power. Can those be healed by human methods?" Kasamatsu looked down at Takao and all the blood he was still bleeding.

"No, there's no way a human could help him now… I need to call Akashi." Those words prompted Kise to walk away from the two humans as he pulled out his phone. Midorima went paler than he was already at the thought of the redhead.

"What is going to happen? I can think of no good outcome to that demon coming here…"

"He is a demon Midorima, so he should have some idea what to do." Kasamatsu didn't want to scold the green-haired male for his negative comment towards Akashi, so he hoped it didn't sound like it. He knew how troubled the human already was at that moment.

"...I suppose you're right…" It was clearly difficult for Midorima to say that, however, before he could dwell on it, Kise returned to the room.

"He will be here momentarily."

"Momentarily? Is he close by?" The black-haired human was confused, causing his lover to chuckle. It was small and light, but it still helped to lift his spirits a little bit.

"You'll see." Within five minutes, an eerie black mist began forming just within the barrier of the door. The mist also caused Midorima to realize that his door was broken open.

"What happened to my door?"

"Nothing." Both the angel and his lover replied in unison. The door issue aside now, the three watched as the mist began to take shape only to reveal Akashi. His eyes were golden and his black angel-type wings were shown for them to see. He was quite a beautiful spectacle, and his smirk showed he was aware of that fact. Just a normal thing for the overly confident demon.

"I thought he was a demon?" It was safe to say the green-haired human was confused over how his wings looked. As far as he knew a demon's wings didn't look like that at all.

"He is a top ranked demon… Well, actually he's a fallen angel turned top-ranked demon…" Kise muttered in response hesitantly.

"Ryouta is correct. However, that is far from what's important at this moment." Akashi's wings disappeared and his eyes turned to their normal red as he approached the group. "Ryouta informed me as to what happened. I will assist however I can."

"Thank you." It was Midorima's turn to be hesitant. This polite and helpful Akashi was nothing like the one he originally knew. The red-haired male simply nodded as he began to look over Takao and his wounds. He ignored the hesitancy in the human's voice, as he understood why it was there.

"Do you have any ideas on how to help him?" Kise was being impatient, but Akashi was being very understanding… for now.

"He is badly injured by holy powers. His wings can never return, meaning unless we close his wounds, they will keep bleeding. He cannot heal himself, he can only sustain a comatose state."

"What does that mean?! Is he going to be like this forever?!"

"Calm down Ryouta. I haven't told you what we can do yet. I was getting to that." Akashi was being kind as well now, much to the other threes' surprise.

"So what can we do?" Midorima was close to being desperate now, but he kept his voice mostly calm. He felt like he was going to pass out from all the new things he was now feeling.

"Ryouta and I can help him, not humans."

"That was harsh Akashi," Kise mumbled to the demon, hoping he didn't actually hear him. However the redhead heard it, of course, but he decided to ignore the comment.

"Ryouta, you heal Kazunari with your holy powers."

"Do you want him to die?!" It was both the angel and Midorima who nearly yelled that question.

"Ryouta, Midorima, calm down. Akashi wouldn't tell anyone to do something that would kill Kazu." Kasamatsu being the voice of reason instantly calmed down the situation.

"Your lover is right Ryouta. Once you heal him, I will take him back to the demon realm to remove the holy wounds from him."

"...If you're sure it won't kill him... then okay..." Kise was still extremely hesitant to reach out his hands to the comatose demon. As he did that, Midorima had to force himself to not slap the angel's hands away. He could only trust the two to not kill his demon now. Even so, he was still extremely on edge.

"Go ahead. He will not die." Following Akashi's instructions, Kise reluctantly brought his power to his hands to heal the demon. The bright blue light from the angel's hands lit the entire room, along with forcing the two humans to look away while shielding their eyes. It was so bright because it was taking so much power to heal Takao.

The healing took only a minute but to the three concerned friends, it felt like forever. Akashi didn't count as a concerned friend, he was only slightly worried at best since he was so confident things would go how he said. Despite that, as the light faded, Akashi along with the others leaned in to see Takao and if the healing worked or not.

The holes where his wings got torn off were completely healed, but a scar remained. That scar would always remind Takao that he would never have wings again. Other than that, all the little holes and cuts were gone without a trace. The healing was a complete success, on the outside anyway. The internal damage due to the holy powers was still there, and getting worse.

"Will he wake up?" Midorima questioned quietly to the group.

"Give it a moment..." Akashi advised calmly as he looked at the nervous human. Sure enough, a minute later, Takao began to stir. He was groaning in pain, but it was much more than before.

"Why am I burning inside?" Those words from the demon were low and raspy. He slowly began to try to move to sit up but was stopped by Kise.

"No Kazu, you can't move yet. You are still internally injured."

"Huh? Ryouta?" Takao took the moment to look around while still laying face down. "Akashi, Kasamatsu, and Shin? What's going on?"

"Do you remember what happened to you?" The two humans and Kise slowly gently helped Takao sit up as he thought. He looked confused for a second, but then his eyes lit up with realization.

"Shin, are you okay? You weren't hurt, were you? How'd we get here?" The demon started to get frantic but was hushed by his human.

"I'll explain now. Just remain calm. Don't agitate your wounds." With that, the green-haired human explained all that went on after the attack. Once the words Midorima spoke sunk in, it showed on Takao's face that he was upset over losing his wings. He didn't say a word about it though, instead, he just smiled at his human.

"I'm glad the curse is broken and you're okay."

"Takao... You should be more worried about yourself."

"Your human is right. You are still dying due to the holy powers trapped within you." Akashi was, of course, the one to break the good vibes, but it was completely necessary.

"What can we do? I don't want to lose my best friend." Kise was as scared as Midorima was, but it was only shown on the angel. Midorima was now refusing to show any emotion. He was worried about what might come out if he let it.

"I will take him to the demon world like I already said. There, he will be cleansed of the holy powers."

"How long would that take?"

"A month at best. However, he must remain there to heal once the holy powers are removed. If his wounds are as bad as I think, it may take up to a year. However, there is always a chance it will fail and he will die."

"A year and he could still die?!" Midorima's outburst caught the redhead off guard. The other three jolted from shock.

"He is seriously injured. A human could not understand. I can only explain it best as a disease eating away at him. It takes time to heal something as bad as that, but it could also progress faster and stronger than the cleansing can handle."

"But... I don't want to be taken away for a year. What if they give Shin a new guardian? What if I can't come back?" Takao was close to tears now as his voice cracked. Seeing his demon like that, and realizing the severity of the situation caused a lot of pain to grow in Midorima's chest. It was becoming hard to hold his emotions back.

"He will return, right?" It was the green-haired human's only concern now. He thought his voice was still calm, but it was shaking and conveying the emotions within him.

"Like I said, there is no guarantee." Akashi's words caused the other four's hearts to drop. That was enough to cause tears in Takao's eyes to spill over, which caused Kise to follow suit.

"I don't want to lose Shin! I just got him back! I don't want to be separated from him again!" Takao ignored the pain he felt and moved to cling to his human, who surprisingly wrapped his arms around Takao in return.

"You have to. You will die for sure otherwise Kazu." Kasamatsu frowned as he spoke. He didn't want to lose contact with Takao for so long, but at least that way there was a chance he'd return to them eventually.

"I'll give you a moment to say goodbye, but make it quick." Akashi retreated to the door and brought his wings out in preparation for departing.

"Kazu, you better come back!" Kise's voice cracked as he cried, but he was still clearly understood.

"I will!" Takao let go of his human to hug Kise and then Kasamatsu. "I promise I'll come back." The two nodded their heads, then went to stand by Akashi to give the human and demon time to say goodbye.

"Takao..."

"Don't worry Shin. I love you, so I'll be sure to come back." Takao tried to smile at his human, but Midorima just shook his head. He didn't want Takao to force a smile. He never liked seeing such a thing on his demon.

"My curse is now broken. You have to return to me so that we can start what you've been wishing for all this time."

"Shin..." Takao began to cry once more and cling to Midorima. "I don't want to leave you. I am in love with you with everything that I am. Even if you don't feel the same yet. I'll wait for you to feel how I feel. Even if it takes forever." Midorima gently lifted Takao's head so he could look him in the eyes.

"You don't have to wait, Kazunari. I feel for you, what you've felt all along for me. I, as well, am in love with you. So, my Kazunari, return to my side when you can. I will wait for you. Just as you said, I will wait forever if I must." Tears slipped from Midorima's eyes as Takao burst into more tears. The two held each other tightly, as Kise cried tears along with them in the corner. He was so happy his best friend had gotten his only wish. It was so happy but so painful at the same time.

"I'm sorry Kazunari, Midorima, but it's time." Akashi walked over and gently pulled up the demon. The two lovers were still attached and didn't let go, forcing Midorima to stand with them. However, now that they were standing, it was harder to hold each other, so they had to release each other.

"Get better Kazunari. I'll be here waiting for your return."

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry." Right before Takao and Akashi faded away in a black mist, Midorima reached out one more time. This time, it was with his hands and lips. He hastily but gently grabbed a hold of Takao's face and pressed his lips to his. Takao instantly responded, making it the first, and possibly the last passionate kiss they would share together. As the kiss ended, and Takao was nearly completely gone, both lovers whispered a sad, "I love you."

With those words, Midorima was left alone with Kasamatsu and Kise. Only then did the green-haired human break down. The prideful man began to cry, true tears of pain from losing Takao. The uncertainty hurt the worst, as he didn't know if that would be the last time he would ever see his demon again.

It was so heartbreaking and out of character, that neither Kise nor Kasamatsu knew how to help him. All the angel could think to do was go to him and sob with him. Kasamatsu followed Kise and just stayed with the broken men, silently. He wanted to comfort them, but he didn't know how. He, himself, was just as hurt inside, but he knew he needed to keep it together for the sake of the other two. He needed to be strong for them.

The three couldn't even think about anything else at that moment other than the loss they just suffered and the uncertainty that went along with it. The more they thought about it, the more it hurt. No one knew how they'd come back from this serious pain they were all feeling now.


	10. Without Him

Midorima and Kise remained together, collapsed on the ground and crying for another hour and a half. They had eventually calmed down and their sobs turned into mild tears. It didn't mean they were any less upset; it only meant that they knew they couldn't remain there forever. So, once Kise was ready to face reality, he excused himself to go to the bathroom to wash up, while Midorima remained on the floor. The green-haired male was caught between being embarrassed for his out of character action and just numb over the situation.

"Midorima, come home with us. You shouldn't stay here alone." Kasamatsu was speaking calmly and had crouched down to look Midorima in the eyes. He felt bad when he saw the devastation in his eyes and written all over his face. "You need to be around friends now and until Kazu's return."

"No. I... am alright." The green-haired human hesitated before he abruptly stood up. He wiped at his face and shook his head. Determination now showed in his eyes alongside the sadness. "I have to stay here and wait for Takao to come back. I don't want him to return and see me not living here anymore."

"Midorima... I..." Kasamatsu wanted to argue but knew once the other human decided something, he wouldn't change his mind. "Alright, but if anything comes up or you need anyone to talk to, then call us. We'll be here for you. So, lean on us."

"You're being particularly kind today. I'm not sure it suits you." Midorima's tone was slightly snarky, which caused the other human to smile slightly. Kasamatsu hoped that his snark returning was a good thing. He was about to respond when another voice joined in the conversation.

"He's right Midorima. We'll do anything to help you. Besides, it's now my job to protect you. I have to keep you safe in place of Kazu. He'd hate me if anything were to happen to you while he was away." It was Kise speaking now. He'd returned from the bathroom and heard the end of their conversation.

"Thank you, Kise, Kasamatsu. I truly appreciate you both and your assistance through all of this." It was pure honesty from the green-haired human. He wouldn't usually say that out loud, but he knew he needed to be truthful with his two friends. At least, at that moment he needed to be. His words caught the two off guard and had to look at each other in to make sure they actually heard what was said correctly. They weren't completely sure how to respond to Midorima being so open with them.

"...You mean a lot to us both Midorima... I mean Shintarou." The human flinched at Kise using his given name, but he didn't reject it. However, he nearly involuntarily shoved the angel away when he approached him and wrapped his arms around the human.

"What are you doing?"

"Hugging you. Is that a problem?"

"...Yes..."

"Too bad." Kise smiled at the human, but even though he was smiling, there were still clearly hints of sadness written on his face. He was trying hard to hide the sadness and be happy though. "Don't worry, Shin. Kazu will return to us." With that, Kise released the human and turned to his lover. "Let's go home." Kasamatsu looked to Midorima, who nodded his head to tell them it was okay.

"Alright. Well, like I said before, call us if you need anything. Even if you just want to talk." Kasamatsu truly wanted the human to go with them, but he'd settle for a phone call. He just wanted to make sure his friend was okay, or at least that he wouldn't do anything irrational.

"I will." The green-haired male walked the two to the door, which wasn't there. The three couldn't help but stare at the broken door. They had all forgotten about it.

"...Ryouta will pay for your door."

"Thank you." So with that, the angel and human began to walk away from the green-haired human. It was only that moment when Midorima realized that he truly didn't want to be there alone. Even so, he didn't call out to them. He couldn't tell if it was his pride that stopped him from calling to his friends or if it was something else, but he just knew it wasn't right to do.

Once the two were gone out of sight, the green-haired human turned to his apartment. He took in all the damage and things he needed to clean. He was glad that Kise was able to leave the barrier up until his door got fixed since his living room was a disaster. Takao's blood was soaking into his floor and the towels full of his blood were thrown around, also soaking into the floor. The remains of the failed exorcism were spilled on the table and on the ground around it, the salt scattered around was the thing that was truly everywhere, since the demon nor human had cleaned up. That caused Midorima to realize that he as well was a mess. Drying blood covered him in various places and salt stuck to where the blood was.

Midorima wanted to clean up, but his entire body felt heavy and weighed down as if he could fall through the floor any second. All the energy he once had was drained and he felt as if he could sleep for days. So, ignoring his common sense telling him to clean up, he decided to head to bed. He had to take a quick shower to rid himself of blood, but it turned into only rinsing himself off. He was way too tired to do much of anything else, however, once he was in bed, he couldn't sleep.

The human hadn't even had the energy to put clothes on or dry his hair fully. He'd just gotten out of the shower, dried himself slightly and fell into his cold bed, but now he was wide awake. The thoughts of the past day flew through his head. Things he could have done differently and things that he should have realized. Every thought led him to blame himself further. He told himself that all that happened was his fault and that Takao almost dying was all on him. Even though Midorima was aware that blaming himself wasn't right, his grief was clouding his reasonable side and wouldn't let him think any other way.

As the night continued on and the human remained lying still in bed, the exhaustion finally took over. As Midorima began to fall asleep, he reached out to Takao's side of the bed and grabbed a hold of the pillow the demon would use. The human pulled the pillow to his body and realized it smelled like his precious demon. The scent was relaxing to him and caused him to slip into sleep faster. While sleep overtook the human, he couldn't help but think that he'd have no dreams, but he was incorrect. His dreams were full of Takao and the times they spent together.

When morning came, Midorima had to face the day. He pushed aside his feelings and cleaned up the evidence of what had gone on the previous days. While cleaning, he found out two good things. The first was that there were no lingering stains in his floors from Takao's blood, and the second was that his blood-soaked phone was fine. Apparently, it's battery just died, but once it was charged it was working like normal, so it turned out to be blood proof.

As he messed with his phone to ensure it was not only clean but fully functioning like he thought, he saw he had four missed calls and a voicemail. All were from the same person, which was the man who'd fired him from the hospital he worked at before he was cursed. Seeing the calls and message honestly intrigued the male, so nearly instantly, Midorima clicked the message to hear what it was.

"Hello, Midorima. I'm sure you must wonder why I've been calling, so I'll just right to the point. After some consideration, I've decided that if you want your job back, you can have it. Think about it and call me with your answer." His boss sounded annoyed at having to make that call. He didn't seem pleased with rehiring the green-haired human, so the orders must have come from above him.

To be honest, there was no thinking needed. Midorima wanted his job back. Not only his job but his life, and that's what he knew he needed to do. With his curse gone, the human knew he needed to go back to his life as he patiently waited for Takao's return.

Despite having ill feelings towards the goddess after Takao's almost death, Midorima kept his promise to her and began the restoration of Yoshi's shrine. He brought his angel friends; Kise, Kagami, Himuro, and Momoi, along with his human ones; Kasamatsu, Kuroko and Murasakibara, to help fix the shrine. They made offerings together and even recruited some of their friends too. Along with that, Midorima's friends also did another job for his sake. Their second job was to ensure that the green-haired human was never able to feel alone or to feel pain.

Even with as much as they tried and did for Midorima, they weren't enough. A few months passed by and even though he had his friends, job, cars and even his normal lucky life back, Midorima still had a hole in his heart. He heard nothing about Takao, even though Akashi had returned already. The demon merely said that the cleansing was taking time. He refused to say anything more and began to ignore the human's phone calls. It infuriated Midorima, but most of all, it caused him more pain.

His mind kept wandering off to Takao and his feelings for the demon. Along with that, if it wasn't the past with him he thought about, it was all that could have been in the future. To make it worse, every night Takao filled his dreams. There were good dreams where Takao was never even hurt and terrible ones where his precious demon never returned. One thing was the same each morning, Takao was not in bed next to him like he wished. It was a painful way to start the day.

Of course, Midorima's group of friends were well aware of the pain he carried. He might have still been his usual self on the outside, but they knew his silent suffering and were very worried about it. So, to help lift his spirits, a few of the group members decided to take Midorima out to Kise's bar to have a fun night of drinking. The group consisted of Momoi, Aomine, and Kagami, along with Kise and Kasamatsu of course.

However, it was the blond angel that was able to get the green-haired human to arrive. Midorima put up a fight since he wasn't one who usually went out drinking, but Kise had been very persuasive. That honestly only meant the angel threatened to drag Midorima to the bar by force if he refused. So, the human reluctantly showed up a little after the others. However, he didn't make himself known and was even debating on leaving without a word. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't in the cards for the night.

"Look who finally decided to show up. Thought we were going to have to drag your ass here." The blue-haired demon was the first of the group to notice Midorima, who in response glared at Aomine.

"Sorry I'm late, I didn't want to show up." Midorima's snarky retort caused all the group members, except Aomine, to chuckle. The blue-haired male grumbled something as he turned back to his drink.

"We're glad you came! I feel like it's been so long since we last saw you!" The pink-haired girl couldn't help but hug the human, much to his dismay. She was louder than usual along with slightly slurring her words.

"We just saw him last week Satsuki." The redhead noted as he pulled the lone female off the uncomfortable human.

"But Tai, it feels like forever!"

"Sorry Midorima, she's a lightweight and is already drunk." The female was trying hard to struggle against the red-haired male. It was mostly just her flailing around though until she was finally pulled away from the human.

"You're a lightweight too Taiga. Why aren't you drunk yet?" Aomine was amused to watch his lover try to wrangle his guardian as she tried to latch herself onto Midorima again.

"Because I know how to pace myself." Kagami might have said it, but no one there thought it was the truth since it wasn't the first time they'd gone out together.

"Isn't it better to just get drunk? Don't worry, I'll carry you home." The demon had a suggestive smirk on his face that caused Kagami's face to go as red as his hair. Aomine just laughed and ignored his lover's sputtering. Instead, he chose to reach out and pull Midorima to him, before pushing him onto the empty seat next to his left. "Are you a lightweight too? Will you need me to carry you home? I wouldn't mind if I had to. I'm sure it'd be fun." His comment caused a chorus of different versions of his name, all sounding exasperated with the demon.

"I haven't drunk much before, so I wouldn't know. Either way, I will not need anyone to carry me home." Midorima ignored the suggestive tone in Aomine's voice and the equally suggestive smirk on his face. The human decided to not even allow the demon to say anything more, so looked to Kise. "Give me a drink. I don't care what it is."

"You could be a little nicer." The angel pouted but went to work making a drink for the human.

"Make him something with a lot of alcohol. I want to see him drunk." It was the blue-haired demon again, causing the little group to glare at him once more.

"Dai, be nice." Momoi scolded her friend, but he waved her away. That incited her to want to attack him, leaving the red-haired male to need to hold her back again.

"I'm making him something special that Kazu had been wanting me to make so he could convince Midorima to come here." As Kise explained, he finished stirring and pouring various things into a glass. With a satisfied smile, he presented the drink to the human. "Here you go. Try it."

"What is it?" The green-haired human was skeptical as he looked at the slightly dark maroon drink.

"You'll see... Well, taste actually." Kise looked quite proud as he waited for Midorima to drink it. Despite the pressure to drink it, the human was hesitant, but in the end, he decided to test it anyway. As he sipped at the drink, his eyes widened in shock.

"This..." The human was speechless and could only look at Kise with his shock filled eyes.

"Yup! It's a red bean soup cocktail. Kazu was very pushy about me coming up with it. You know how difficult figuring out how to work it into a drink for you was? You should be happier." The angel was happy enough for both of them due to his creation. "So, how was it?"

"...It's acceptable..."

"Can you taste all the alcohol in it? There's more in that then I'd usually put in one drink."

"So, maybe we'll see a drunk Midorima?" Aomine was smirking at the human, who just shook his head in return.

"I highly doubt I will get drunk." Well, that's what Midorima had said, but he was wrong.

After a few more of those strong drinks and an unnecessarily long conversation about Takao, Midorima was too far gone. It definitely wasn't in his nature to get drunk, but he couldn't help it. Kise's creation was incredibly good and Aomine kept irritating him, causing him to drink faster. The whole Takao situation was the thing that pushed Midorima over the edge and give into drinking with the group. The human ended up drinking too much too fast.

"Hey Midorima, I think you need to call down with the drinks." It was Kasamatsu who finally spoke up to try to stop the other human. He was able to tell how far gone Midorima was since he was slightly swaying in his seat. That led to Kasamatsu, who was sitting next to him, to become worried for his friend.

"Why?" Midorima took another sip and looked at his friend. The one word he spoke was not slurred, but the drunkenness was written all over his face, despite his argument. "I'm...drunk..not..." Those words were what gave away his current state. It took longer to speak and it was like he had to truly think about what he was saying to ensure it was correct, even though it ended up not being correct.

"...Midorima you just..." Kasamatsu shook his head and took the drink before walking behind the counter to dump it out. He looked at his lover and spoke up again. "Ryouta, he's cut off."

"I am fine."

"No, you're actually wasted. You clearly aren't aware of this, but you're talking to an empty seat. Yukio isn't there anymore." Aomine was trying desperately to not burst into laughter.

"...I see..."

"You don't. Where the hell are your glasses?" Kasamatsu was getting even more worried now. It wasn't like his friend to be so strange and he couldn't believe no one noticed his lack of glasses before then.

"I may have left them in the bathroom." With that, the green-haired male began his journey to the men's room. Along the way, he stumbled passed the already unconscious Momoi and Kagami. They were laying in random booths where they passed out a little after Midorima had arrived. Aomine had kept feeding them drinks and even got into a drinking match against his lover.

Right before Midorima entered the bathroom, he decided he needed to clear his head and cool off. So, without his friends realizing, despite him bumping into tables on his way, the human left the bar and escaped outside. The chilly night air felt good to the drunk and overheating male. It also felt good to finally be away from people. He wasn't accustomed to being at any social gatherings, especially being drunk at one, not that he'd admit he was drunk.

"I should get home..." He wasn't sure why he spoke out loud to himself, but it got weirder when he nodded his head in agreement with his own statement.

So without his glasses and without telling anyone that he was leaving, the green-haired human began to walk home. Well, in his hazy mind he was but he was actually going the wrong way and didn't notice it. He also thought he was walking normal, but he was actually stumbling over his feet and swaying. He was venturing dangerously close to the road as every stumble caused him to go further from the sidewalk.

If Midorima realized how much closer the cars suddenly looked, he didn't care. As the cars sped by seemingly feet from the drunk man, neither them nor anyone else watching cared either. It was almost like no one saw how close a person was to them as they went by. So, the human continued along, until his foot collided with a random and large rock hidden in the grass.

This caused Midorima to lose his balance and stumble over. Since he was so close to the road, he ended up just falling into it. Dazed and unsure of what had happened, the human slowly stood up. It was a struggle to do so as his legs didn't want to work well and gravity seemed to want him to stay down, but eventually, both feet were on the ground, even though he was swaying unsteadily. Of course, the human paid no mind to himself standing on the road, meaning he was completely ignoring the cars coming. Not only the cars, but he ignored the cuts and gashes he now had due to his hard fall.

For some reason, his impaired mind thought it was a good idea to walk to the other side of the road rather than the two feet to where he originally was walking. This caused him to walk right in front of a car, who slammed on their breaks immediately. Still, the car was about to collide with Midorima and he didn't seem to care much at all. He remained standing there in the road, blinded by the bright headlights quickly approaching him.

It seemed like Midorima was about to be hit until there was a flash of black and something other than a car hitting him. Within seconds, the human was laying on his back on the cold grass. A body was pinning him to the ground and a face was far too close to his. With the lack of light, all he could distinguish from the being above him were glowing amber eyes that had worry written in them. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he was able to see more of the being's face.

"You know, we need to stop meeting like his, Shin." Those words were all Midorima heard as he slowly blacked out. Along with that, the heartwarming smile he knew so well and loved so much was the last sight he saw before it all went black.


	11. Lover's Return

Bright light shining on Midorima's face caused him to wake up confused. His eyes snapped open but instantly closed due to the blinding light. The light was so bright that when he slowly opened his eyes it took him a few moments to realize he was in his room. Well, he thought so from what his blurry eyes were seeing. He wasn't completely sure how he got home, but then again, he wasn't sure how half the night had gone anyway.

So, entirely confused, the human began to sit up but instantly was hit with a wave of nausea. It was nearly overwhelming, but on a good note the sick feeling brought along the memories of the night. He remembered how he wandered off and almost was hit by a car, but was saved. He didn't remember what saved him, nor how he got home though. Everything was still a little fuzzy, but that also could have been caused by the lack of glasses.

So, Midorima instinctively reached for his glasses on his table by his bed. He fully remembered leaving them at the bar, but it was what he did every morning so it was natural for him to reach for them. However, when his hand actually touched his glasses, he wasn't sure what was going on. He was now confused on top of nausea and developing a pounding headache. He wasn't sure about a lot of things now, so he slowly slid out of bed as he put his glasses on. He was a little wobbly, but he was able to reach his bedroom door before it opened from the outside.

There stood Takao, wearing a green and orange frilly apron. Midorima's breathing stopped completely as his jaw dropped. He was frozen in the pose of reaching for the doorknob. He even had to blink a few times to fully make sure he was seeing correctly. The feeling of shock wasn't even enough to describe how the human felt at that moment.

"T...Takao?" Midorima's voice was shaky and hesitant. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He almost thought he was dreaming, until the being in front of him spoke in that all too familiar tone he'd gotten attached to hearing.

"Hey there Shin. I'm glad you're finally awake. I was starting to worry you'd never wake up." The demon had a smile on his face as he looked up at his shocked human. His voice was also shaky as tears began to fill his eyes. Before he knew it, the distance between the two began to shrink.

"Are you really here? Or is this another one of my dreams?" The human reached out to touch Takao's arms as they were also reaching for him. The demon was warm, telling Midorima that it was a true body and not a dream.

"Sorry for being late. Hope you didn't miss me too much." Takao chuckled slightly, but it was full of sorrow.

"You fool. Why wouldn't I miss the one I love?" With that, Midorima pulled Takao to him and tightly wrapped his arms around him. The demon instantly reciprocated and hugged his human.

"I'm sorry for taking so long... I wanted to come back as soon as possible but they wouldn't let me until they knew for sure I would be fine." Tears were now flowing as Takao hid his face in Midorima chest. "I missed you..." His hold on the human tightened as his voice shook and cracked as he spoke.

"I'd begun to worry you'd never return." The demon was shocked not only at Midorima's words but by the few tears that slipped out of his green eyes.

"Shin, I'll never leave you again."

"Of course you won't. I will not allow it." The two remained stuck together peacefully until the human smelled food, causing his stomach to growl. Midorima pulled away from Takao almost violently, trying to hide his embarrassment. That was what put an end to their emotional reunion.

"...Oh, You're hungry? Well, that's good. I made us breakfast... even though it's already past noon."

"But I have questions for you."

"I'll answer them after you eat and take medicine for your hangover. You are feeling bad, aren't you?"

"I'd forgotten about that..." The human had indeed forgotten about his hangover until it was brought back up. His excitement and happiness over Takao's return had clouded over his ill feelings.

"Come on Shin. Let's go eat." The demon grabbed onto Midorima's hand and led him to the kitchen. On the kitchen table sat a feast for the two, along with medicine for the human.

The two sat across from each other and ate in pleasant silence. They were comforted in the others' presence. There were no words needed between them for now. Their hearts were finally calm and glad to be reunited once again. Just being able to look at each other was enough for them both. Even so, Midorima was in a rush to get answers despite being fine with just knowing his demon had returned to him.

"Takao, it's time to explain everything." The human was done eating first, so he spoke up instantly. However, the demon was still eating and had his mouth full, leaving him to only stare at his human blankly. "...Finish eating quickly." Takao nodded his head and resumed eating quickly. He was eating a little too fast and nearly choked, but got over it fast to finish before his human lost patience with waiting.

Once they were both done eating, they cleaned up the mess Takao had made together. Once the cleaning was done, the human had Takao take off the apron since he didn't think he needed it anymore, plus it was too weird for his tastes. Now that all that was taken care of, the two were finally ready to talk about all that'd happened. Takao decided to take Midorima and himself into the living room to talk because he figured it would be a long conversation, so he wanted them to both be comfortable. They chose to sit side by side on one of the couches to talk easier.

"Alright. Where do you want me to start?" Takao was ready to answer any question the human could have for him.

"Why did it take so long to return?"

"Well, it was less time then we thought it'd take to be honest, but the time it did take was because I was worse than we thought. I was actually almost dead when we arrived in the demon realm. My body had been falling apart faster than what was expected. So, my healing/cleansing was a lot harder than we imagined. After that, I had to deal with my bosses and explain the curse situation and all those that were involved."

"I see... You are fine now, correct?"

"Yes. I am entirely healthy."

"Does this mean you'll remain my guardian?"

"Yes, I'll be your permanent guardian from now on."

"Good." Midorima's one word caused Takao to smile wide, but the human chose to ignore it. Since Midorima didn't instantly ask something else, Takao figured he was now able to ask something he was curious about.

"Hey Shin, what did you do while I was gone? Did you spend every day missing me?" The question was meant mostly as a joke, but Midorima didn't respond jokingly.

"Yes, I did."

"Wait, what?"

"Every single day I missed you. I have been in pain due to the uncertainty of if you'd return or not. I tried to hide it and keep it in, but all our friends could tell."

"Shin..."

"Even so, I got my life back together. Everything went back to normal... but the hole in my chest wouldn't close..." Midorima looked at Takao and could see how shocked he was at the human's honesty.

"I am so sorry. I swear to you, I'll never leave you again. I'll be here for the rest of my existence."

"I will hold you to that. You are not allowed to leave my side again." Takao smiled at his human as he pounced onto him, pushing Midorima on his back to lay on the couch. Takao was now laying on top of the human and showed no signs of getting up any time soon.

"I really love you Shintarou. I'm sorry for the pain I caused." The demon hugged the human as he snuggled into his chest. He was surprised to feel the human hug him in return.

"Kazunari, I will not say this too many times, so listen carefully. I love you as well. I have for a long time."

"Shin..." He smiled up at his human, only to see Midorima's face completely red. The human tried to cover his blushing face, but it was too late. Takao had already seen it and was smirking at it. "You okay over there?"

"Be silent, you fool."

"You're so cute!" Takao nearly squealed in happiness at Midorima's embarrassment. The human could only sigh and allow the demon to enjoy it. He didn't mind really since it made him feel happy seeing his demon happy. Honestly, the two wanted to spend more time at that moment just laying there together, but it was a short-lived enjoyment. Their adorable moment was over when suddenly a body burst through the apartment door, shattering it to pieces. Both men jumped initially but were then frozen in their positions as they looked towards the door at the person who rudely interrupted them.

"Midorima, you're not dead, right?!" It was Kise who broke the door, once again. He was breathing heavily and was clearly worried, but froze when he saw the also frozen Midorima and Takao. "Um, what?"

"Ryouta! You broke the door again! What the hell were you think..." Kasamatsu had run to catch up to his lover and joined the frozen group when he saw into the apartment. "Huh?"

"What is going on?" Kise was the first person to start speaking after a few moments of complete silence.

"Hey, Ryouta. Long time no see." Takao hesitantly smiled as he slowly slid off of his human.

"Explain now!"

"Hug me first!" Takao hugged Kise and he happily hugged him back. Kise was glad to see his best friend, but he was also furious, which ended up winning over the happiness.

"I've been worried! What the hell! You show up and don't even tell me! I'm your best friend!"

"I only came back last night! I was going to tell you soon, I promise!"

"And you!" Kasamatsu spoke, ending any more bickering between the two best friends. He angrily stared at Midorima as he pointed at him. "Where the hell did you go last night?! We've been thinking you died!"

"I almost did die, however, Takao appeared and saved me at the last moment," Midorima explained as he stood up and fixed his clothes.

"We need more explanation than just that!" At Kasamatsu's demand, Takao began to inform them of what he'd already told the green-haired human. "Well... I guess I understand why you didn't tell us sooner."

"We need to tell everyone else! We should have a party to celebrate Kazu's return!"

"What!?" That harsh response came from Midorima, but his voice was drowned out by Takao speaking over him.

"That's a great idea!" The two best friends descended into a party conversation. They got wrapped up in their own little world and didn't notice the confused stares from their humans. They slowly drifted off into the kitchen leaving the two humans alone in the living room. The room was full of an awkward silence before Midorima opened his mouth to speak.

"He broke my door again," Midorima noted, staring at the pieces on his floor.

"Yeah... Sorry about that. He'll pay for it... again." Kasamatsu couldn't help but chuckle as he entered the apartment the rest of the way. "So, how are you feeling about Kazu's return? You two looked pretty cozy together. Is there anything else we should be celebrating?"

"It... It wasn't what you think it was." The human fought a blush trying to creep up onto his face as he turned away from his friend. "That's beside the point... To answer your question, I suppose I am... relieved to have him back..."

"Relieved? You looked a lot more than just relieved."

"Don't be an idiot." The human's words were harsh, but Kasamatsu knew he was just trying to avoid revealing the truth to him.

"Well, either way Midorima, I'm happy for you. You got your "true love", as Ryouta puts it, back." That comment caused the green-haired human's face to turn fully red. It was a surprise to the black-haired human. That was another sight from Midorima he rarely saw. He couldn't help but smile at his flustered friend because of that. He knew Takao was causing the once calm and level-headed man to change but in a great way. He couldn't help but be thankful for that. He liked seeing his friends become happy, not that he'd admit it though.

"What are you smiling about?" The green-haired male had suspicion written in his eyes as he looked at his friend who was smiling without even realizing it.

"Just thinking about how much you've grown with Takao in your life."

"What are you, my father?" Kasamatsu chuckled at that, slightly startling his friend. It wasn't common to see the black-haired male to do such a thing.

"Sometimes with all of you I feel like it." Midorima knew exactly who his friend was talking about. It was vague, but it was clear he meant the guardians, and Akashi, along with the other humans since they all were a handful, especially if they were all together. As he thought about that, Midorima couldn't help but feel bad for how Kasamatsu was the "mom friend" most of the time, even if he didn't seem the type to be one.

"We have the party all planned now!" Kise's cheerful voice pulled the two humans from their thoughts. They both turned to look at their guardians in sync. It was a little creepy and unsettled the demon.

"You two look serious, what were you guys talking about?" Takao sounded a little worried as he looked at the two. He wasn't sure what could have been said between them, but he also wasn't sure if he even wanted to know or not.

"We were discussing my broken door." Midorima instantly blurted out. He didn't want to admit the entirety of their conversation. It wasn't like he was lying anyway, they really had spoken about it at first. "Anyway, about this party..."

"We'll have it at mine and Yukio's place. We've already set the date and invited all our friends!" Kise was clearly overly excited about it, and Takao was as well, he just was able to hide it slightly better.

"I see..." Midorima could only sigh and accept it. There was no stopping those two when they set their minds to something.

"When did you decide the party at OUR house will happen?" Kasamatsu was clearly irritated with his lover for choosing their home without asking him. Even though it actually didn't bother him, he just hated when Kise would decide things by himself. He would have agreed if he was asked anyway.

"Tomorrow!" Both Kise and Takao said together happily.

"... I should have seen that coming..." Kasamatsu could only shake his head as he sighed to himself. It was so hard handling his lover sometimes.

"Let's get home and start preparing." Kise quickly hugged his best friend goodbye before approaching his lover and wrapping his arms around him. "Come on. I'll make it up to you."

"Don't say something like that!" It was now the black-haired male's turn to blush at his lover's clearly sexually intended statement. He shoved his lover away but Kise kept trying to hold onto him. It turned into an awkward sight to watch for the green-haired human. He wasn't sure if they were fighting or flirting, but he knew he didn't like seeing it.

"My door..." Midorima wanted their interaction to end as soon as possible. He didn't want nor did he need to see his friends' encounter in his living room.

"Oh right, sorry. It'll be fixed later today." Kise muttered, slightly embarrassed that he'd broken another door. Midorima just nodded his head and accepted he'd be without a door for now. "Kazu, make sure you don't leave again. Midorima, keep a hold of him to ensure that... I'm sure it won't be too hard considering what we walked in on." Kise was being suggestive again, causing his lover to smack his head this time.

"Enough. Let's leave them now... I'm sure they want to get back to what they'd been doing." Kasamatsu smirked and began to walk away with a wave. The other human and his demon couldn't help but blush over that.

"If you were going to tease them too, why'd you hit me?" Kise whined to his lover as he chased after him.

"Because I can." The two could be heard bickering, or maybe flirting all the way as they walked down the hallway to the elevators.

"...So, Shin, shall we go back to what we-Ack!" As Takao spoke Midorima put his hand over his face to silence him.

"You fool." The human retreated into his room, trying to hide his red face.

"Do you want to resume it in your bed? How scandalous!" Takao heard Midorima retort back, but it was something less than kind so he just chose to burst into laughter rather than respond to it. It had been a long time since he was able to laugh like that, and it felt amazing. It made him feel something he hadn't felt since he was taken away, and he couldn't help but tear up a little. "I really missed this. I'm so happy to be home..." Takao paused to sniffle and wipe away the tears that escaped his eyes. "Thank you for waiting for me Shin."

The demon didn't know it, but the human had heard all of his words and smiled as his own eyes felt teary.

"I feel the same... and of course I'd wait, you fool... You are my fool after all." The two were able to feel their hearts connecting again, and it made them incredibly thrilled to finally be back together. This time, they would make sure to remain by each other's side as much and as long as possible.


	12. Party Time

Against Midorima's wishes, the next day, he and Takao were on their way to Kise and Kasamatsu's mansion. For once, Takao willingly chose to not drive, due to his lack of recent experience. He wasn't too confident of his driving skill, not that any of his friends had any trust in his "skill" at driving either, he just took too long to realize it himself.

With the human behind the wheel, the pair safely arrived in a timely manner. They actually got there before anyone else did, which was most likely due to Takao's eagerness to see all his friends again. The demon had even practically run to the door once the car was parked. The human couldn't be annoyed at the other male, he understood how happy he was to be back. So for now, Midorima would let Takao be overly excited and annoying. He'd honestly rather see him like that than depressed and hurt.

"Come on Shin! You're so slow!" Takao cheerily called out as he rang the doorbell more times than necessary.

"I'm coming. Calm down you fool." Midorima muttered as he quickened his walking pace. As he approached the door, Kise's voice could be heard through the door.

"Come in! It's open!"

"What would he do if we were robbers or murderers?" Takao chuckled questioningly.

"He's an angel. He'd be fine." The human sighed as he opened the door. He walked in first, with the demon following close behind after closing the door.

"Hey, you two!" Kise was setting up orange streamers on a ladder as Kasamatsu looked concerned. He was trying to hold the ladder steady as Kise reached further than he should be causing the ladder the wobble. Talking and turning to look at the pair didn't help anything.

"Ryouta, focus!" The angel's lover sighed as he was forced to remind him of his task. The blond nodded and finished hanging the colorful streamers. He carefully climbed down as his lover began to speak to their friends. "You guys are here early."

"We were eager to see everyone!" Takao smiled a huge smile, while the green-haired human just looked annoyed to be alive. "Can I help with anything?"

"What? No, it's a party for you. Why would you help set it up?" Kise spoke up faster than Kasamatsu, but those were going to be his exact words as well.

"I'm here early. Come on, no one needs to know." Takao's voice was slightly suggestive, which caused Midorima's mind to go in a completely different direction.

"Just what exactly are you wanting to help them with?" Midorima's questioning tone has a hint of suspicion in it. He knew what Takao meant, but he just couldn't help but ask that.

"However you just thought is definitely not what I meant." Takao chuckled, causing his human to be slightly embarrassed due to his oddly dirty thought.

"Speaking of such things, did you two resume your activities after we left?"

"Of course not. There wasn't anything to resume in the first place." The green-haired male scoffed at the thought, even though deep down he knew it had been a "moment" that he'd like to resume. However, he wasn't about to admit that, not even to himself.

"Ryouta, leave them be. We have to finish up before the others arrive." The black-haired human pulled his lover along with him as he exited the room. That left the demon/human pair all alone.

"So, should we just go and sit down?" To Takao's question, the human walked over to the large sectional he remembered sitting on right after he'd first met the demon. Of course, Takao instantly followed after him and chose to sit right next to him. Once the two were seated, they remained in silence it was slightly awkward, but the human paid no mind. His mind was busy with the many things were flying through his head at that moment.

"Takao, I have a question."

"What is it, Shin?"

"Are we... I mean..."

"Huh? Shin, you're not making any sense right now." Takao was growing worried, so he leaned over to better see his human's face. The human had hints of a blush on his pale skin. "Shin?"

"Are we supposed to be a couple now that we've confessed?" It took a lot for the human to be able to ask that and Takao heard it clearly despite how fast the question was asked. The demon was about to respond when voices could suddenly be heard. It was the voices of Aomine and Kagami.

"Where's Kazu? I won't believe he's alive until I see him." The blue-haired demon's voice was loud and coming closer as if he already knew where the other demon was. Takao turned to look at the entrance to the main room, and then back to his human. He wanted to ask if it was okay if he went to his friends, but he also didn't want to leave the conversation they were about to have.

"Go on." Midorima calmly stated as he turned away from Takao. That showed that his calm tone was actually him being cold.

"Shin, I-" He couldn't say anymore as the demon/angel pair appeared.

"Holy shit! He really is alive!" Aomine chuckled happily, but still in his regular condescending tone.

"Of course he is, why wouldn't you just trust what Ryouta said?" Kagami questioned his lover as he shook his head.

"He's an angel, I don't trust them."

"...What the fuck Dai? I'm an angel too!" Kagami was already mere seconds from bitch-slapping his demon, but when the demon spoke up again, he wanted to murder him.

"With how you are in bed, I have my doubts." Takao sighed at the now fighting couple as he was reminded once again how incredibly idiotic they were.

"Hey... guys? Stop fighting and hug me already. I almost died you know."

"Oh right, I nearly forgot about you." It was both of the idiots who muttered that.

"...Thanks guys..." Even though they'd said that they still took turns hugging their almost long-lost friend. As they had their happy reunion, Midorima left the room to go and help Kise and Kasamatsu finish setting up. Takao noticed, but the other group members kept arriving one after another which stopped him from going after his human.

Takao was pushed and pulled around as the rest of the friends hugged him. First was Momoi, then Murasakibara, Himuro, Kuroko, and even Akashi decided to hug Takao once everyone else had. It was a bit disorienting being tossed around but it was happy. Takao was glad to be back with all the people he loved dearly. They, even Akashi, were also glad to have him back in one piece, more or less.

"Oh good, you're all here. Let's get the party started! Food and drinks are in the kitchen." Kise spoke up, interrupting the happy moments going on. He was smiling at all the people in his living room as he talked. He couldn't describe how thrilled he was to have them all there. He loved throwing parties for his friends, though it was a mix of wanting to do nice things for them and wanting to show off.

"Alcohol?" Aomine asked hopefully with a smirk on his face.

"No! We don't need anyone driving home drunk... or turning up missing this time."

"Speaking of someone going missing..." Takao turned to look at Aomine with anger in his eyes. It was like a switch had been flipped and startled the other demon. "Care to explain how Shin ended up on the street a few miles from the bar?" His voice was dark and threatening, causing shivers to fly down the blue-haired male's spine.

"We were all at fault. We all got too drunk." That explanation from Aomine wasn't good enough.

"I don't think so. You can't get drunk." Takao was glaring at the other demon now, causing the angels in the room to become worried. It was dangerous for two demons to go at it and they didn't want to have to step in and hurt anyone.

"That's...true. My bad, alright?"

"Are you fuc-"

"Kazu, calm down!" It was Momoi who stepped in front of Aomine. She was radiating a protective aura, which instantly caused Takao to back off from fear of holy powers. "He didn't mean to allow him to go off on his own. He just is an idiot and he feels really bad about it."

"About being an idiot, or about Shin?" Takao couldn't help but smile as he asked that even though he was still annoyed with the demon.

"Both." Everyone, with the exception of Aomine and Akashi, either laughed or chuckled at Momoi's agreement.

"Hey!" Aomine was less than happy over his guardian's comment.

"She's right Dai." It was now his redheaded boyfriend who spoke up. Kagami was laughing at his side, finding this hilarious.

"Tai, you're just as much of an idiot as he is." Momoi's statement caused another burst of laughter and chuckling. This time it was Kagami's turn to be annoyed with his friends.

"The hell are you all doing just standing around?" Kasamatsu's demanding question halted the laughter as they all looked at him. "Get food before it gets cold, you idiots."

"Food?" The two idiot lovers finally realized there was food, even though Kise had mentioned it already. So with that, the group broke apart with some going to get drinks or food and some going to sit down on the unnecessarily large sectional in the main room. Even Midorima had returned to his place next to Takao, much to the demon's delight.

"So now that we're all here, I'm sure we'd all like some explanation. Why did it take you so long to come back?" Kuroko was the first one to ask the question they'd all been wondering. Of course, Midorima, Kasamatsu, and Kise already knew the reasons, along with Akashi.

"Well, I was hurt a lot worse than we thought. It was harder to heal/cleanse me, so it took longer. Apparently, I was almost dead when Akashi had taken me to the demon realm. The best I can explain it was that my body was falling apart internally." Takao paused to remember all that had happened while he was gone before continuing. "Also, I had to handle my bosses. They needed me to explain the whole situation."

"So, what ended up happening to Hiretsuna?" Kise's inquiry was one the others also wanted to have answered.

"She was found and punished."

"What do you mean?" It was Midorima this time asking a question.

"Her wings were torn off and she was thrown in the cage she locked me in. So, she'll never bother us again."

"That's horrible..." The angels in the room all couldn't help but mutter that as they cringed. They could have guessed that would have happened though. It was the usual punishment for angels who messed with humans in a negative way.

"Getting your wings destroyed hurts. I can only imagine how she felt. I feel a little bad for her... but only a little bit." Takao's wing comment caused a dark cloud to appear over the room. He realized it and smiled. "But, I'm fine without my wings. Shin will drive me anywhere I want to go."

"...So, um... do you know why Hiretsuna did all that? She must have had a good reason to do such terrible things." Momoi decided to ask another thing in hopes of removing the dark cloud.

"I did find out finally. In all her crazed ramblings, I was able to piece it together, with a little help from her superiors."

"Well? What was so damn important she had to almost kill you?" Kise demanded, allowing his anger to show.

"Love. The original human she guarded was also her first love. Back then loving a human was a vile thing and being with the human you guarded romantically was even worse. So, the human was punished. He was forced into a life he didn't want and was eventually brutally killed after many years of torture and sadness. In the end, he blamed Hiretsuna, breaking not only her heart but her mind and soul as well. Apparently, Shin reminded her of her dead lover and hated that he was my true love and not hers. So all the years of pain and hate built up exploded and caused her to go insane."

"...That's..." The female didn't know what to say. She was speechless for the first time in a long time.

"That's horrible." Himuro finished for her. He could only imagine how painful it'd be for him and his own human lover to go through that.

"I'm not forgiving her, or saying I'm okay with what she did, but I understand it," Takao admitted to the group and honestly, the other guardians also agreed with him. If any of their lovers had gone through such a life and death, they'd break too.

The group couldn't help but sit completely still and in silence for a few minutes. Even Murasakibara stopped munching on food in favor of being motionless. No one knew what to say anymore. Momoi realized her question caused more darkness than anything else and felt bad about it, but she didn't know how to fix it.

"...So... Are you Midorima's permanent guardian now?" It was Kasamatsu who finally broke the deafening silence in the room after a few minutes.

"Oh, well of course!" The black-haired demon smiled happily. "Shin is now stuck with me forever."

"I somehow don't think he minds." Aomine chuckled looking at the green-haired human.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you two a thing now?" Momoi muttered questioningly.

"What?! No, no...No!" Takao's face burst into red as he waved his hands around frantically. Midorima also couldn't help but slightly blush at the female's guess.

"We most definitely are not "a thing"." Midorima's voice was firm, but no one in the room seemed to believe him.

"...Are you sure?" Even Akashi had to question it.

"I'm sure!"

"You know, I wouldn't mind being "a thing" with Shin though..." Takao's voice was quiet but loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"...Well, I'm not... I'm not against it..." Midorima's face now matched with his demon's extremely red face. The two looked at each other and realized they were going to have a lot to talk about when they got home.

However, now that all the seriousness was over, it was time to get the actual party started. They planned on fully celebrating their friend's return in the best ways the group could. Which usually ended up with various people throwing halfhearted insults at each other and the couples being...couples. Even so, Takao wouldn't change his group in any way. He loved his friends as much as he loves his precious human.

Deep down though, Takao couldn't help but be antsy to get home and talk things over with Midorima. He had a good feeling about it, but for now, he'd enjoy his party and wait patiently for his alone time with Midorima.


	13. Only The Beginning

The party lasted for hours, much longer than Kise had originally intended for it to last. Within those hours, the group chatted about various things, played some party games and argued over nothing. Along with that, the couples were cute and sickeningly sweet. They kissed and did a lot of affectionate actions, much to the disgust of their single friends.

Eventually, they all had to head home. It was extremely dark outside when they remembered that most of them worked the next day. So, one by one they left with alone or with their partners. They would hug Takao and tell him to keep in touch before completely disappearing until the next get together. After about a half hour of saying goodbye, only Midorima and Takao remained in the mansion with Kise and Kasamatsu. However, they too had to go home due to Takao being exhausted after another hour of hanging out.

"Text me all the time to let me know you're okay," Kise demanded as he followed the two to Midorima's car.

"Ryouta! I will!" Takao whined to his best friend. He'd already agreed twice, now three times.

"Ryouta! Get back here! Let them go home!" Kasamatsu was annoyed but didn't want to go after his lover and drag him back... yet.

"Protect him!" Kise yelled at Midorima as he retreated towards his home.

"Kise, it's his job to protect me." The green-haired human calmly stated as he shoved Takao into his car. The demon yelped in surprise at the sudden action but didn't say anything once he looked to his best friend. The look on the angel's face told him he was completely serious, which was a little worrisome for all those involved. "...I will protect him."

"Good." The blond male smiled brightly and continued to walk back to where his lover was standing.

"Goodbye." Quickly, Midorima climbed into his car and started it. He drove home as fast as he safely could. The ride was in silence, which was welcomed, but concerning. He was unsure as to why the demon was so quiet, but when he looked over at him, he saw Takao was asleep. "Fool" He spoke fondly and with a smile on his face. He found Takao extremely cute at that moment, but wouldn't admit that out loud. Well, not yet at least, maybe one day.

Once they arrived home, the human had to carry the demon to bed and even change him into his sleep clothes. To his own surprise, he chose to place Takao in his bed instead of the couch, meaning he wanted to sleep next to the demon. Ignoring that fact, the human got ready for bed and climbed in next to his demon. He wanted to talk to Takao, but it could wait until morning. They both needed plenty of rest after dealing with their insane friends.

~

The sun was shining on Takao's face woke him up. He was momentarily confused as to where he was since he didn't remember how he had gotten home, but when he managed to open his eyes, he found out. He was curled up against Midorima and was using his chest as a pillow. The human had his arm tightly wrapped around him in return. They were now obviously in the human's bed, but Takao wasn't sure how exactly he got there or why he was there. He didn't think Midorima could have placed him there, but that was the only logical option.

"Shin?" Takao gently shook the human, trying to wake him up. "Shin, I really have to go pee, you need to let me go!" The human scowled in his sleep but did nothing more. "Shin!"

"What?" His eyes shot open with a very annoyed expression on his face.

"I have to pee. Let me go!" The human looked confused but then realized he was holding the demon against him. He instantly released the demon, allowing Takao to flee to the bathroom. Midorima sat up and tried to not scold himself for such an action. He never expected he'd hold onto Takao, especially when they haven't made anything official yet, but he honestly did enjoy the closeness.

The human realized he was quite reserved now, despite kissing Takao as he disappeared that day the demon almost died. That memory caused the human to blush now instead of cause pain inside like it usually did.

"Does Takao remember that?"

"Do I remember what?" The demon's appearance caused Midorima to jolt and almost fall out of bed. He quickly tried to play it off as if nothing happened by putting his glasses on as he tried to salvage his pride with a red face.

"Nothing."

"Oh come on Shin, what did you mean?" Takao moved to the bed and climbed onto it. He was now only about a foot from the human.

"...Our kiss..."

"Kiss? When?" Takao's face contorted into pure confusion. His eyes were wide and he couldn't help but gasp at the thought of them kissing. Takao's reaction caused Midorima to frown, but at that moment, Takao chuckled. "Of course I remember how you declared your love and kissed me that day." The demon smiled a big, truly happy smile as he spoke next. "Even though I was dying, it was the happiest day of my entire existence. In my hundreds of years, that one moment was something I'll always treasure."

Midorima was speechless. He was completely frozen with his mouth wide open. He wasn't sure what to say, but he realized another part of his body was speaking for him. He'd begun to shed tears as he looked at Takao's now worried face. Midorima chose to ignore the worried look in favor of pulling Takao to him and hugging him tightly.

"Kazunari..." The human's voice cracked as he spoke the demon's name.

"Shin, it's alright. I understand." The two enjoyed their time in each others' arms for as long as they could, but it had to end. They needed to talk about where to go next in their relationship. "Let's talk about what you asked me last night."

"Fine." However, the human's stomach chose to start the conversation by growling loudly. "...First, food."

"Yup! I'll make something while you change and do what you need to do." With that, the two reluctantly released each other and headed off to do their tasks. Once finished, they met up in the kitchen to eat breakfast before going over to the couches to sit side by side. They were both honestly eager to have their talk and it was about damn time they had it too.

"Alright, Shin. Let's start! You go first." Takao's eagerness on had a calming effect on Midorima, which gave him the courage to speak.

"We've told each other how we feel, and we've kissed but that doesn't mean we're together, correct? I am unsure of where to go from here."

"Well, let's just get married!"

"What? No? That's skipping too far ahead you fool!" Takao chuckled at the human's reaction and shook his head.

"I was kidding. Let's just start where we feel comfortable."

"That sounds better."

"Shin, I honestly want to kiss you and make love to you. I want you in every way I can have you." Takao's honesty and seriousness caught Midorima off guard. It wasn't like him to be so upfront about things of a serious nature.

"...I see... Wait, "make love to you"? That sounds as if you want to be the one "on top"."

"Of course!" Takao's smile was back and Midorima couldn't tell if it was because he was joking or another reason.

"That's not happening."

"... Well, let's talk about this again later." Takao's face softened up as a kind smile appeared. "Will you be my boyfriend Shin?"

"...I suppose that would be acceptable..." The human was red with embarrassment as he tried to look away from Takao. Hearing him say yes in his own way, the demon pounced on the human once again. The two tumbled onto the floor this time, with Takao ending up above Midorima.

"Fuck me if I'm right Shin, but we can finally start our lives together as actual lovers now." Takao's voice was suggestive and he even wiggled his eyebrows at the human. Midorima just smirked, an extremely predatory smirk at his official lover.

"I always intended to do just that, so right or wrong, you're ending up under me in bed tonight." Takao turned fully red at Midorima's completely sexual response. The human ignored that and just smiled at the demon as he picked him up suddenly.

"Wh-Where are we going?"

"To our bed."

"Our?"

"You are my... boyfriend now. What's mine is yours."

"Isn't that for marriage?"

"Don't worry, marriage will come soon enough." With that, their first time being intimate began. Midorima did indeed end up on top of the smaller male. Takao didn't tell the human, but he always wanted to be under Midorima and only said what he had to push his buttons.

Midorima and Takao's activities ended up lasting longer than the demon expected. He almost wondered if the human was actually a human or not. Even so, the two showed their undying love for one another and it was actually quite a beautiful moment... a messy one too.

~

Sure enough, their marriage did come later, a few months later to be exact. Once they were married, the others followed them and got married to their partners as well. First was Kise and Kasamatsu, then Himuro and Murasakibara, Aomine and Kagami next and Kuroko and Akashi last, much to everyone's surprise. Even Momoi eventually found love with a nice demon and married him a little while after.

None of the humans had to worry about growing old as it turned out that Akashi was the son of the demon king. He was able to turn all the humans as immortal as their lovers. That way none of the friends had to ever suffer the loss of their loved one. They were all very thankful to him, but really, he was the thankful one. He didn't want to lose the friends he'd grown so close with, so with everyone being able to live forever, they could all remain together forever.

"Kazunari?"

"Yes, Shin?" The two were lying in bed late one night, in their house they bought when they adopted an orphaned angel, named Serenity. They were snuggled up together after a few rounds of... activities.

"Thank you for being with me through all this."

"Of course Shintarou. I would do it all over again too if it meant I'd be able to spend eternity with you." The two shared a kiss and it was one

of many, but each kiss meant the world to the lovers. They couldn't be anything but thrilled to be there with each other for now and forever. After their adventures through misfortune and many other roadblocks, they truly deserved to be as happy as they were at that moment, and forever more.


End file.
